Virtually a Princess
by InuHanyouGurl
Summary: Sokka has created a new virtual reality helmet and his online game starts out fun, but when a hacker gets into the system and Sokka disappears, Katara must walk the line between reality and fiction and rally her gaming group to find her brother.Zutara
1. Level 1: Hooking in

The in game story requires a bit of explanation probably. It is essentially based on a previous short story I have written. In my senior year in high school, I had to rewrite a fairytale, and I chose to rewrite the story of the Bamboo Cutter. The story I wrote is what the in-game plot is based on, but a basic knowledge of the original Kaguya may help. Kaguya was the moon princess that was banished from heaven and sentenced to repent on Earth. Many men fall in love with her beauty but she will see none of them. Five of them, she sends out on wild goose chases after legendary items in order to see if they are fit to marry her. All of them fail miserably and some are wounded in the process. They all end up hating her and giving her up. Even the Emperor falls in love with her, but she will not be with him. At the end of the story, she leaves earth to go back to heaven, and the Emperor at the end is pining after her.

My take on the Kaguya story is highly different, but I doubt anyone will want to read the original short story that I wrote as it is rather long. You will discover some of the game plot as Katara does, but I don't know how far I'll actually get into the real plot of the story, as something happens to throw our innocent gaming group majorly off course. For this reason, I may give a plot synopsis of the game later to make all the happenings easier to understand.

**--Virtually a Princess-- **

**:Level 1: Hooking In: **

With darkness hanging heavy around her, Katara decided hooking in was already different. She had played many virtual reality games, but never had she felt anything like this, as if her entire world was warping and changing. Virtual reality could build a three dimensional world around its player, but functions were limited. Players could move and interact with their environment, but they could not feel the world. They were detached and without sensation, an unfeeling cyborg or phantom in the digital world of the game.

She had not even fully spawned into the world, but she could already feel smooth stone on her skin, brushing against her finger tips and arms. Never before had she felt such a thing in a game of any kind, and she relished this intense awareness of the world of which she would soon be a part. At first, the cool, glimmering green gems around her were pleasant, and she enjoyed the feel of them. As she became more solid, however, a wave of panic hit her. The gems were enclosed around her, suffocating and entrapping her. The darkness engulfed her and seemed to crowd tighter around her as unforgiving as the cold stone on her skin. She tried to scream, but so tight was her gem encasing, she couldn't move at all. In her chest was a hollow burning for air, and she vaguely felt the strange sensation of being alive yet not breathing. She couldn't speak or move in order to pull herself out of the virtual world.

How had Sokka talked her into this?

--

"Get your brother. Dinner's ready!"

Katara sighed. If dinner was ready and Sokka wasn't already at the table, that meant only one thing. He was in his self-proclaimed 'Sokka-cave.' He had convinced Dad to let him use the basement as a room and a makeshift mad scientist laboratory. Katara hated going down there. It was messy, and it smelled like teenage boy. She decided to hack his chat room first and check if he were logged on.

Besides, he hated it when she did that. Her hands moved rapidly over the keys and a chat box appeared on screen.

**Sokka**** the Great**: NO! if we don't have a princess, we can't start!

**Master Arrowhead:** awww! but everything is ready! PLEASE

**roguevigilante:** he's right what's the point if we don't have all the characters together

**flurry-of-dancing-flames**: why doesn't toph or the white mage do it

**Master Arrowhead:**toph said she'd rather kill herself when we voicechatted last time

**Master Arrowhead:** she said i wanna get the game started but i ain't no princess

**Sokka**** the Great:** we don't know the white mage well enough yet to trust her being the princess

**roguevigilante**: doesn't your sis game Axel?

**flurry-of-dancing-flames: **No. Just no.

**roguevigilante:** welcome to the chat Sugar Queen.

Finally someone noticed her.

**The Painted Lady**: why does Toph tell everyone to call me that?

**The Painted Lady**: Sokka, it's dinnertime.

**Sokka**** the Great**: HOW DID YOU HACK IT AGAIN?

**roguevigilante**: it's not that hard.

**flurry-of-dancing-flames **has just changed his display name to **HOTT PANTS**

**roguevigilante** see?

**HOTT PANTS:** …

**HOTT** **PANTS** has just changed his display name to **flurry-of-dancing-flames**

**flurry-of-dancing-flames**: Couldn't painted lady be the princess? She games right?

**Sokka**** the Great**: You mean Katara?!

**Sokka**** the Great**: why didn't i think of that

**The Painted Lady**: wait what

**Master Arrowhead**: ok its decided katara is the princess.

**Master Arrowhead:** can we start now?

**The Painted Lady**: Wait, what are you guys talking about?

**Sokka**** the Great**: don't worry. i'll explain it after dinner

**Sokka**** the Great**: i'll fill her in guys. just get everything ready.

**Sokka**** the Great**: we start tomorrow!! Somebody send Toph a voice message! tell white mage to be ready!

After the goodbyes, the small chat group began to log off. Sokka spoke rapidly in excited tones that night, and Katara had only caught the finer points of his recent invention. According to his convoluted explanation, he himself had created a ground-breaking, new kind of virtual reality helmet. Apparently, he had created a game himself, and he modeled the characters after the closest members of his gaming group. Of course, he had proclaimed proudly, he'd given it a story, and there were plenty of NPCs. He'd created one character, however, that he knew would have to be a player character, but he didn't know who was going to play it.

"You're extremely lucky," her grinning brother told her. "You get to be the princess. She's almost the main character of the game. Second to me, obviously. The White Mage wanted it, but I honestly don't think she's cut out for it."

"Who's The White Mage? Have I been in a party with her in one of the online games?"

"Naw," Sokka said. "She's a new addition to my gaming group. I thought I'd let her in on it."

He quickly dropped the subject and then went into the specifics of the program styles he had used and what of the latest assorted technologies with which he had built the set of helmets, but she had already tuned him out.

'New helmet, huh?' Katara thought to herself. 'This ought to be interesting.'

--

The helmet's capabilities were rather awesome, Katara decided, but she wanted to get off the ride. Most virtual reality games have a disconnect key, a word to say to disengage from the game if the helmet malfunctions. She couldn't move her lips to speak such a word though. Her mind was struggling against it, but for all her fighting, nothing changed. Sokka's malfunctioning helmet wasn't spawning her into the game world correctly. It appeared to her as if her character had spawned inside of a wall. She was no stranger to spawning in strange places, and she often had to reset her helmet to spawn correctly. Sokka would realize something was wrong and find her, she assured herself. It's just a matter of waiting, and keeping the rising panic down.

Suddenly, light flooded into the top of the crystal, and her chest swelled in hope. The light twinkled through the stone, turning her prison into a sparkling haven. Light meant someone knew where she was. Light meant she was going to be rescued. Surrounded by emerald light and the small arcs of colorful rainbows that the stone threw off, she realized that her prison was moving upward. The movement seemed excruciatingly slow, but soon her face was even with two pairs of boots. As the stone moved upward, she found she was in a brightly lit cave, and inch by inch, she was acquainted with her rescuers. Focusing on them helped combat the fear churning her stomach.

The first was a teenager with light blue trousers and weathered black boots, and a sword was affixed to his back. A regal looking blue jacket adorned his shoulders, and his complexion was dark with large blue eyes peering at her, brown hair falling around his face. He had a strong, good-looking sort of face, but he also looked noble and knowledgeable. It was the face of a warrior and an intellectual, and he greatly resembled Katara's father. This must be Sokka's character.

The second was a boy in his pre-teen years. Gray eyes peered out of a round, happy face, and blond hair curled around his pale countenance. He was wearing a modified version of monk robes made of orange and yellow. The yellow robe was long and fell just about his ankles revealing dark boots. An orange sash cinched the robe in at his waist. The sleeves on the yellow robe trailed down his arm, disappearing underneath an orange arm guard that covered him from his elbows to his wrists. An odd bit of orange cloth hung around his shoulders and looked very much like something an airbender would wear. Katara had been in fighting parties in some of the online games with Aang and knew this member of Sokka's close group was an airbender. She figured that this blond monk must be his character.

The teenager grinned and said in Sokka's sometimes squeaky adolescent voice, "Time to get you out of there."

'About time,' Katara thought, irritation seeping through her.

A bright blue light shone from the blond boy's hand, and this blazing light stretched out towards her. It wrapped around her, cocooning her chest with warmth. She could feel herself being pulled from the crystal around her, and when she felt her feet touch the ground, she gave a loud gasp of relief. She looked back at the stone, and as she peered closely, she could see the hollow shell where her body had been. She looked back at her brother, her eyebrow twitching dangerously. Before she could speak, however, he ducked into a low bow, large grin in place.

"I am Sai, The Scholar. Do you remember me, Your Majestic-ness?"

She'd listened to the opening narration. Of course, she knew who he was.

"Sokka, how dare—"

"Sai," he corrected. He ducked as a hand sailed at his head.

Then the blond pre-teen stepped between the two bickering teenagers. His voice was chirpy and childish, and when he spoke, Katara couldn't help but smile. "I am Hakuturi, The Monk. I am pleased to be reunited with you." He bowed deeply. Katara smiled and patted the blond head.

"You're adorable," she said, her eyes sparkling. Aang straightened, red stained his cheeks, and he scratched the back of his head nervously.

With her irritation and fear forgotten, Katara turned to peer at her reflection on the stone. She had dark skin and wavy brown hair cascading down her back. Her eyes were an interesting shade of purple that glimmered in light. She was clothed in a radiant light purple dress of soft chiffons and silks. The dress fit snugly about her torso, showing off her curves, but flared outward at her waist. The sleeves of her dress also flared out and whirled around her arms. She knew the sleeves and the skirt would whirl in the wind cinematically if given the chance. Her hands were adorned with tight white gloves, and a silver necklace shaped like a crescent moon hung about her neck.

She was enjoying discovering her character's appearance when the cave began to shake and tremble. A teenager shouted somewhere in the depths of the cave, "Here it comes, guys, get ready to run!"

Katara looked at her brother, confusion in her eyes.

"By waking you up, Your Princess-ship, we also woke up the beasts that live in this cave. We have to meet the rest of the group," he frowned seriously and slipped momentarily out of character. "We can't beat the boss without them."

A teenager clothed in red and blue armor careened around the bend in the cave, humor and arrogance written on his face. His hair spiked wildly around his face and a thin scar ran diagonally across one of his eyebrows. He smirked at Katara, grabbing her hand tightly in his as he ran past her. She was tugged along with him, and as she fell into place beside the newcomer, she silently thanked the Moon and the Ocean Spirits that Sokka had enough forethought to make her feminine little boots easy to run in. Her hand held by a stranger's as she ran, she looked back to see Sokka and Aang keeping pace with them.

She felt her someone watching her and realized that her heroic stranger was peering at her from the corners of his eyes. His lips tilted up into a strange little smile. "Time to get out of here, milady," he said in a strong, attractive voice. "I'm Mamoru, The Protector, and I won't let anything happen to you."

Katara tried to concentrate on his voice, to judge his true personality on sound alone. After all, in the world of the game, voice was the only thing that was real. She found herself blushing, however, and averting her eyes. Mentally, she had to remind herself, 'I'm Kaguya, Princess of the Moon Kingdom, heiress to the all the Kingdoms of Heaven. I am not Katara, and this is not the time to be thinking about an internet romance.' A monster was crashing through the cave behind her, and she decided that it sounded fierce and large. The cave path curved and suddenly she was facing two large double doors. She gazed wondrously at the ornate doors made of carved emerald as she ran, and consequently, tripped on a rock protruding from the cave floor.

She winced inwardly as the ground rushed at her, and she wondered if her sense of touch extended as far as being able to feel pain. Before she could hit the ground and find out, she was caught and whisked into the arms of Mamoru. His face was unexpectedly close to hers, and he smiled, his eyes fixed on his destination. She'd never gamed with him, and she wondered what his name really was.

"Watch yourself, Princess," he said in his charismatic, entrancing voice.

They crossed the threshold of the large double doors, and she heard Sokka's voice shout, "Close the doors, quickly!"

Mamoru set her down carefully in the center of the wide room and graced her with a quick smile as he rushed back to help Aang and Sokka close the doors. The room looked very much like a temple or church in a cave. Destroyed pews were scattered about large room, ancient religious relics that she didn't recognize littered the floor. Three large doors led out of this forgotten temple arranged in a triangular sort of way, one at the head of the room and two at the far corners. She realized that she was standing in a pool of colored light and looked up to see a stain-glass window depicting a strange religious symbol. She was entrance by the strange symbol and barely registered the three new characters entering the wide room.

"Did your patching chips work?" she heard Sokka shout.

"Yeah, it worked great!" came a childish female voice.

Katara, eyes still studying the symbol on the ceiling, shouted to her brother, "What's a patching chip?"

"It's what initiates the cut scenes and makes your character do what it's supposed to do," came the reply.

Ah, well, that was different. Usually characters existed in the game world only as what was defined by their player. She was puzzling what it must feel like to have one's body move but to have no control when her thoughts were distracted by a sudden movement behind the stained glass. She stumbled back just enough to avoid the stained glass that rained down as a large amorphous blue blob crashed through the window and hit the ground with a disgusting squelch. It resembled something close to an extremely large flan that sometimes appears in Final Fantasy games.

It turned its body, but Katara couldn't tell which side was the front. The slow creature suddenly shot out two tendrils of trailing blue slime and lifted her into the air. She realized that there had been no tutorial, and she had no idea how to use her abilities or magic or whatever it was her character had. She threw out her hands. Even if she didn't know her powers, she wasn't going down without a fight. Searing white light ignited on her hands as she moved, and the blue creature screamed in pain and dropped her. She landed in a precarious crouch and stood up straight. Floating letters appeared near her head. '-14 MP,' it said.

She turned her attention back to the thrashing creature. With no in-hand weapons and no idea how much MP she had, she was at a loss as to how to proceed. She was spared the trouble, though, as two blades rent the creature in two. The creature emitted one final wail and faded into thin air in true video game fashion. On the other side of the creature, a young man dressed in a princely outfit of red and black was sheathing a pair of twin blades attached to his back. His shirt, black and hemmed with red, had no sleeves, and the folds of the shirt were pulled over gi style before being belted at his waist. His under shirt was long sleeved shirt of light red, and he wore light red pants that were tucked into darker red boots. He had long black hair that was pulled into a low ponytail at the nape of his neck. Two vibrant golden eyes gazed at her from a pale, regal face, a slight smile gracing his lips.

A low, robotic voice in Katara's ear whispered, 'Cut scene initiating.' She suddenly felt like her body was no longer hers. The young man's body became rigid, his posture straightened as if he were pulling himself to his full height. Katara felt tears fall from her eyes, but she could not move to wipe them away. Why in the world was she crying anyway?

The young man bowed and said in a rough, low voice, "I'm so pleased to see you again, my dearest Kaguya."

Katara let out a strange gasp that almost didn't sound natural to her own ears. "Emperor Kirin!" she shouted in a strangled voice, and she threw herself into the young man's arms. She was watching a cut scene from the inside, and she didn't like it.

When she pulled away from Kirin, he smiled and placed a kiss on her forehead. His lips were soft, gentle, and she was surprised to find she rather enjoyed the feel of it. "Together again," he said in his oddly rough and sad voice. Katara's patching chip forced her to smile before she slowly began to regain control of her character.

Sokka had left so much out about the rules of this game, and he was going to pay for it.

**--End Level 1--**

In game/ online character names introduced in this chapter:

Kaguya, The Painted Lady- Katara

Kirin, flurryofdancingflames, Axel, HOTT PANTS- Zuko

Sai, Sokka the Great- Sokka

Hakuturi, Master Arrowhead- Aang

The Blind Bandit- Toph

Mamoru, roguevigilante- Jet

The White Mage- you'll find out in the next chapter. Lol

Question for the readers: I'm trying to keep the players and the character's very separate, so the only time I'll likely refer to Sokka in game as Sokka is when he speaks. Because his voice is still his voice, Katara will register it as Sokka's, and the same with the other gamers that she knows well, like Aang and Toph. This is what I have planned but if this is confusing, I'll do it a different way. How do you think this would be more understandable?

There will likely be some editting done to this, but I wanna hear some suggestions on how to make this better. I realize that there is a lot of character description, but the next chapter will have more story to it.


	2. Level 2: The First Boss

**-A/N-** The Opening Narration is taken from my short story Reaching Heaven. The version of Reaching Heaven that is in the game is warped a little to make allowances for the game world and things are added as necessary. I haven't posted the original Reaching Heaven anywhere, but if anyone is –actually- interested, I'll send them a copy… or upload it somewhere.

Note: Many of the spell names will likely be the same as Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts spells. This'll make them more recognizable at least to those who have played these games. I'll make sure I explain what they do, though, if it is one of the crazier spell names.

That said, I hope you enjoy.

**--Virtually a Princess--**

**:Level 2: The First Boss: **

_Opening Narration of Reaching Heaven_

_In the Kingdom of the Heavens found on the distant moon, the Gods and Goddesses had built for themselves a sprawling utopia, and all in the Heavens was overseen by the Royal Family. The Heavens were certainly calm and beautiful, but it, too, knows death as humans know it. Even the creatures of Heaven must pass on into the next stage of existence. With the death of one of the mightiest of the Heavenly Kings, a single girl-child named Kaguya was left to rule. Though she was beautiful, kind-hearted, and well-loved by the people, she was a still young and withdrawn, not yet equal to ruling a kingdom._

_When a wicked woman rose and accused the princess of the treachery, the little princess was much too weak to speak out. The wicked woman took the throne for herself, and she sentenced Kaguya to pitiful life on Earth. Only the Five Knights of Heaven remained loyal to Kaguya: Mamoru, The Protector; Sai, The Scholar; Hakuturi, The Monk; Mikoto, The Hunter; and Akka, The Magician. These exalted warriors dedicated their lives to return their fallen princess to her rightful home. Few methods exist for those on Earth to transcend into Heaven, and these methods could only be attained by the most skillful and passionate. Kaguya's followers were ardent and eventually found the means to return to Heaven._

_While they toiled at their task, the wicked Empress tried to tempt Kaguya into committing a sin worthy of execution. The most punishable offense in the Kingdom of Heaven was for one of Heaven to fall for a human of Earth. The Empress, therefore, sent many handsome men to tempt Kaguya's heart. The princess was intelligent, however, and would not see any of them. All of the men flocking to her door attracted the High Emperor Kirin's attention, and he wanted to glimpse her beauty for himself. When Kirin finally managed to meet Kaguya, the two fell in love at first sight. The Empress wanted to strike out against Kaguya, but as everyone knows, the Emperor is a God on Earth. The Empress could not punish Kaguya for loving a God; instead, the Empress spirited away both Kaguya and the Emperor, sealing them both within crystal pillars deep within the Earth. _

_For years, the princess and her love were trapped beneath the Earth, but the Five Knights of Heaven have located the two lovers' prison. They plan to unlock their mistress so that they may finally return her to Heaven… _

_--_

Sokka hit the cave wall hard.

"Geez, Katara, that hurt! What was that for?!"

Katara huffed and jerked her face away defiantly. Her cheeks were still burning red from an encounter that shouldn't have taken place with a total stranger. She really couldn't care less that it was just a game. As she was opening her mouth to tell her brother as much, another voice broke in.

"Ooh, looks like Sugar Queen's leaving ya, Sparky. Too bad. You guys were the perfect couple."

Katara would have recognized that sarcastic voice anywhere. She turned and saw pretty, althetic girl flop on to the ground. The girl looked like an elfin huntress with her green sash cinching her sleeveless yellow tunic at the waist. She wore a loose pair of green shorts and small leather shoes. The shoes were promptly ripped off and thrown to the ground. Her rich black hair was pulled back into an elegant bun, and when she lifted her head, Katara got a good look of her porcelain complexion and her flashing green eyes.

The noble, elfin face broke into a large grin. "Finally," she said, exultant, "A game where I can feel the ground!" After tossing her weapon of choice- a bow and arrow set- onto the ground next to her, she threw herself back onto the dirt floor and just lay there.

Katara had asked her once why she chose a bow so often.

The girl had leveled a sad but sardonic gaze on her. "It's one of the things I can't do in real life. You know, on account of being blind." Toph had been an elf type character then too, and the image of the young elf walking into the forest with her quiver of arrows swinging to and fro still stuck in Katara's mind.

Virtual reality had progressed to a simple "hooking in." Images were transferred directly into the player's mind, skipping the eyes entirely. Katara thought about how hard it must have been for Toph to adapt from relying on her connection to the earth to relying on virtual sense of eyesight. Of course, in-game, Toph didn't mention her blindness often, save the occasional sarcastic remark.

"Guys! What are we waiting for? I'm getting bored!" came a high pouty voice to Katara's right.

Katara turned to look at their other gaming partner and realized that this was obviously The White Mage. The girl wore a Final Fantasy white mage cloak that fit rather snugly and fell about to her knees. The white hood was thrown back, but the large pink triangles that decorated the hems were very visible from where Katara stood. The long trailing sleeves were loose, and the cuffs were a deep pink. The cloak was fastened tight by two ribbons, one of which was a cute pink ribbon tied into bow at the collar. The other was a white ribbon that cinched the robe just below the girl's breasts. A pair of cute pink Capri pants peeked out at the bottom of the cloak, and her feet were adorned with adorable pink shoes. A large staff was strapped to her back. Her light brown hair was cut short and framed her face. Her countenance greatly resembled that of a child's doll, pretty eyes and small, cute features. She bounded over to Sokka, her cute smile already lighting up her face.

Katara could already see Sokka's glazed expression painting his character's noble face, and suddenly she knew why he had let this girl in on his big secret game. She watched the two for a moment, sickly fascinated by her brother's total lack of grace around females.

Katara was distracted as a large crash resounded through the room as something large hit the emerald double doors.

"Okay, guys, make sure your characters are healed. We got few minutes before it breaches the door," Sokka shouted, distractedly, before The White Mage recaptured his attention.

Kirin approached her, and she stiffened, embarrassed. Thankfully, he looked just as awkward and embarrassed as she felt.

"Um… could you heal my character?" He shifted from one foot to the other. "You're one of the party's two healers, so…"

"Who's the other healer?" she asked, interested.

He jerked his head toward Sokka and The White Mage, and she understood immediately why he asked her first.

"Sure," she said. "But I don't know how much MP I have. Or how to use my magic. Sokka didn't explain the finer points of the game."

Kirin stretched his hand towards her chest, and Katara, unsure of what he was doing, took a step back as she protectively brought an arm across her chest. He pulled his hand back quickly, and a blush stained his cheeks.

"Your necklace," he said gruffly. "Tap it and you can see your HP and MP levels. If you tap it twice quickly, you can see the abilities you have."

"Oh!" Katara said in surprise. "Really?" She tapped her crescent moon necklace, and a set of bars and numbers appeared in the air near her. The numbers were low, as expected at the beginning of a game. She would have to level up her character soon. She tapped twice and looked over her abilities. She had a few healing spells, a few strange spells she assumed were attack spells, dagger attacks, and lastly, waterbending. She tapped the necklace again, and the information disappeared.

'Waterbending?' she thought to herself. 'But I can waterbend in real life. What's the point of that?' She would have to ask Sokka about that. Actually, it'd be a good excuse to pull him away from his girlfriend.

Another loud crash resounded through the room, and her companion cleared his throat.

"Oh, right! Sorry." She stretched out her hand, palm facing the boy, and thought 'Cure.' As this thought went through her head, a white light radiated from her hands, wrapping around him. A short jingling tune accompanied the healing wind swirling around the Emperor.

When it subsided, he muttered a thank you, and began to rummage in a pouch at his side. He pulled out a small glowing orb of glass which he placed in her hands.

"It's ether for when your magic gets low. Just press the center button, and it'll become a vial," he said. "I don't need it. My character doesn't use magic." He turned away, muttering another quiet 'Thank you.'

"Wait, what's your real name, Emperor?" Katara said, smiling in a friendly way. The quicker the embarrassed tension evaporated the better.

This only seemed to redden his cheeks again. "You can call me Axel."

She pursed her lips. That wasn't his real name, and they both knew it. Well, while he was here, she was going to get some information from him. She nodded towards Mamoru where he stood in his red and blue armor talking to Aang.

"What about him?"

He raised his eyebrows a little, but he said, "His name's Jet."

Jet. She stored that name away and turned her eyes towards her brother and the cutesy girl. "What about the flirt? What's her name?"

'Axel' seemed taken back for a moment, but he followed her gaze. "Oh, her," he said, a frown creasing his features. "She says her name's Tennin. I don't think that's her real name though."

"Well, Axel isn't your real name either, so it's fair, right?"

He just huffed and walked away, presumably to brood.

A sickening crack resonated through the room, and she turned to see the emerald doors fracturing. The creature would get through soon.

"Group up, guys," Sokka shouted and his attention was finally turned away from the cute mage. Katara joined them at the door, feeling that she finally had a little bit of a grasp of the things Sokka had conveniently left out.

The doors finally shattered, shards of emeralds raining down upon the group. Katara shook her head wryly. Sokka certainly had a flare for the cinematic.

The creature that stood there was unlike any she'd seen. In overall features, the creature looked like a large badger-mole, but its large eyes were a burning red, its fangs bared and dripping with saliva. It seemed bulkier and hairier than the typical badger-mole, almost like it was demonic.

"Okay, first boss: the Demon Badger-Mole. Let's get it!" Sokka said, excitement in his voice. He loved boss fights.

Katara laughed loudly at her brother as she looked at the 'Demon Badger-Mole.' He'd never been very good at creative names.

The others shot her a quick, confused look as they pulled out their weapons. Sokka and Axel were unsheathing blades while Jet produced two strange hooked weapons she had never seen. Toph had her bow in her hand, and Aang was brandishing a thin staff. Tennin had a white mage staff, but she was putting on a pair of fighting gloves. This probably meant that her physical attacks were hand-to-hand.

According to her character ability sheet, Katara should have a dagger on her person somewhere. Her boot, she realized, was the most likely place. Sokka loved hidden weapons, and when they had watched the Silent Hill movie, he had raved about how cool the main girl had looked with a knife in her boot. Of course, the knife had fallen out of her boot, but Sokka was mostly concerned with coolness factor anyway.

Sure enough, she produced a dagger from her boot just as the battle was starting. As the battle started, the floating life and magic bars appeared automatically, probably so the healers would know when to heal. It was a quick battle, and with two healers, keeping the others alive wasn't overly difficult, though Katara had been forced to use the ether to replenish her magic. Silently, she'd thanked Axel for his help.

When the battle was over, however, there was a low quick buzz in her ears, and a familiar robotic voice said, 'Cut scene initiating.'

There was a swirl of color around her.

"Watch out, Princess!" Jet's voice shouted.

A red and black blur collided with her, and she realized she was in Axel's arms again. She only barely caught sight of the miniature explosion that took place where her character had just been. Wrapped in the Emperor's arms, she realized that the Five Knights of Heaven had arranged themselves in front of her and her rescuer.

Why was she always being rescued?! Katara would take this up with Sokka, too.

A cold laughing echoed through the cave, and Axel's arms tightened around her.

"So you've escaped, my pretty doll. And you were so cute in your little emerald case. Don't get too confident, little one," the cold voice said. "You'll never see the Heavens again."

"I recognize that voice," Axel breathed in her ear. "But who…?"

Five large spherical lights appeared around the Five Knights, and Katara heard herself gasp. The lights began to expand and seemed to take human form. Suddenly, the light creatures each attacked a different knight, and the knights each jerked away trying to distance themselves from their attackers. The light creatures withdrew as quickly as they attacked, however, and stood on the alter at the front of the room. Although they hovered in a humanoid shape, their forms never solidified, but they each held something in their incorporeal hands.

"The treasures! They've stolen them!" came Aang's innocent voice.

"The treasures…?" Katara asked.

"Mikoto told me about them," Axel's voice was soft and quiet, as if imparting a secret, and his breath was warm on her neck. "The five treasures are supposed to get you to back to Heaven."

She felt her eyes widen as she watched the Five Knights rush at the creatures. The creatures faded, taking the treasures with them.

"If you ever hope to get to Heaven again, little doll, you must defeat my minions and take back your treasures." A hollow laughed rang through the cave.

Katara felt something akin to rage bubble in her heart. She wrenched free from Axel's arms and took up a proud stance, shoulders back and head high. Brandishing a fist in the air, she shouted, "I am no doll, you False Empress! I shall fight my way back to heaven, and I shall show the power of the true Royal Family of Heaven."

Maybe she wouldn't have to throttle her brother for giving her a weak character after all.

"Very well." Another hollow laugh. "One of us shall lay dead before this battle is complete."

Jet's character, obeying his patching chip, approached Katara. "The Princess is getting more courageous," he said, smiling a teasing smile.

Katara's character was shy and fell back against Axel, as if for support. She felt a reassuring hand on her shoulder. She knew her character was blushing, and she was embarrassed by it. Toph appeared behind Jet, a cocky expression on her face.

"I have no doubt that the Princess shall become the greatest Empress the Heavens will ever see."

Katara ducked her head shyly one last time before she started to regain control of her character once more.

**--End Level 2--**

For those who don't know Final Fantasy very well, I'm including a link to the Final Fantasy 9 version of the white mage outfit that I based 'Tennin's' outfit on. It's rather cute. Just take the spaces out of it after you paste it. (I have so much trouble getting to just display links.)

**EDIT**: Someone pointed this out (Thanks!), it should be kaguya underscore the underscore fallen. Also, in the last link put an underscore between screenshot and 1. And make sure there is a colon between http and / Sorry.

Further back: http/i182. photobucket. com / albums / x244 / kaguyathefallen / 1.jpg

Close-up: http/i182. photobucket. com/ albums / x244 / kaguyathefallen / 11.jpg

And also, for those who haven't played Kingdom Hearts 2, I'm including a link to a picture of Axel, the flame elemental warrior whose name Zuko is using. Even though this is based on virtual reality games, I'm operating under the assumption that Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy are such classic games that even gamers of the future will have played them. Maybe Square Enix made virtual reality versions of these games? (I hope I live to see this day lol.)

Regular Axel: http/i182. photobucket. com/ albums / x244 / kaguyathefallen / 12.jpg

Fighting Axel with Flames: http/i182. photobucket. com / albums/ x244 / kaguyathefallen / screenshot1.jpg


	3. Level 3: The Ace of Hearts

**Author's Note:** In the original folktale the stone bowl of the Avatar is the stone bowl of Buddha.

Sorry this chapter took so long. I had finals and essays to write. Thanks for your patience with me. I expect the next chapter to be out a lot sooner.

Mamoru: a Japanese verb that means to protect.

**--Virtually a Princess--**

**+Level 3: The Ace of Hearts+**

_There are items on the Earth that will buy passage for the creatures on Earth to get to Heaven. Kaguya had sent out her loyal Knights to find these fabled treasures._

"_Hakuturi, my Monk," Kaguya had said, "Use your knowledge as a monk to search out and find the stone bowl of the first Avatar. That bowl has been touched by divinity, and in it, I can carry enough food to reach the Heavens._

"_Mikoto, my Hunter, use your bow and arrow to slay for me the fabled sparrow that carries a cowry shell within its stomach. This shell shall guide me through the skies and into the Heavens._

"_Akka, my Magician, use your magic to lure the fire rat from its blazing home. Its fur is impervious to flame, and, when made into a cloak, it can protect me from the heat of the barrier that divides Heaven and Earth._

"_Sai, my Scholar, use your wisdom of the world to find the fabled yet sacred Mount Horai. On the summit of this mountain, you will find a tree whose trunk is gold and whose branches are silver. Instead of flowers and fruit, this tree bears pearls and gems. I shall present this at the gates of Heaven to prove that I am worthy of being allowed into Heaven._

"_Mamoru, my Protector, whose name suits you so well, use your courage and strength in combat to slay the dragon that resides in the sea and wears in its forehead a gem that radiates five colors. Take this gem and bring it to me for it shall give me the ability to fly back to Heaven."_

_Thus she spoke, and the Knights rose to the task, retrieving these fabled items. The Empress, however, was waiting at every turn, trying to stop the princess and her Knights._

_--_

Upon exiting the Temple Cave, Katara was greeted with the sight of a sprawling forest spread out below her. Looking up, she realized that the temple was built into the side of a blue mountain, and she stopped to admire the towering structure that curved elegantly into the sky. A small sound of appreciation escaped from her lips, and Sokka huffed at her.

"Let's go!" he moaned.

Katara frowned at him. "I'm admiring the scenery."

"Geez, Katara, you act like you've never seen a volcano before," her brother shot back.

"Volcano?!"

"Yeah," Jet approached her, that strange infectious, infuriating grin on his lips. "Mount Fuji, from the legend. I'm glad you like it. I was the one who designed this part of the landscape."

Katara's brows knitted together, and she began to ask what legend he was talking about. Another thought took precedence, however.

"I thought Sokka designed the game."

Toph laughed and said, "You think Sokka could do all this on his own?"

"Sokka—" Katara's voice was angry. Why had Sokka left so much about the game? She felt like an idiot.

"Wait, Your Royal Moon-ey-ness," her brother said hastily in an obvious attempt to distract her. "You haven't met Toph's character yet." He wrapped his arm around Toph's shoulder and pulled her towards Katara.

She noticed a blush stain the pale girl's cheeks, and she watched Toph push Sokka roughly into the dirt.

"Ow!!" Sokka complained loudly, but Toph approached Katara.

"He's right you know. I haven't introduced my character yet, Sugar Queen." Toph bowed sarcastically and said in a voice of fake sweetness, "I am Mikoto, The Hunter, and I hope my services please the Almighty Moon Princess."

Katara heard some of the others snicker, but Sokka's laughter was the loudest from where he was brushing the dirt off of his jacket.

Jet joined in on the charade, a teasing smile on his face. His voice had a hint of sarcasm but still managed to be entrancing. "I, Mamoru, The Protector, used my infinite skill in battle to defeat the dragon whose forehead held the jewel that radiated five colors." He bowed his head and peered up at her through his lashes. He chuckled and leaned close to her, pressing his hand into hers. "Surely, dearest Heavenly Maiden, I shall be your most precious companion."

Katara blushed deeply, but she was too entranced by Jet's silky voice and flirtatious smile to be angry. His hand was warm in hers, and even if it wasn't real, she reveled in the feeling.

Laughter rang out again, and pleased with the response, Jet bent his head with the clear intention pressing his lips to her knuckles. With his hot breath on her hands, Katara's blood thrummed faster in veins, but before his lips touched her skin, Sokka's voice rang through the air.

"Gross, Jet!! Get your hands off my sister!!"

Katara, embarrassed, snatched her hand back from Jet, and she hoped the heat in her face would fade soon. The sensations she had felt as Jet touched her was so life-like, so real, so intoxicating. She began to stomp away on the only road leading down the volcano, fleeing from the awkward situation. Snickers were heard from behind her, and she thought she heard Jet say, "Aw, jealous Sokka? Would you rather I kiss your hand instead?"

Her face reddened again, and she sincerely hoped Jet hadn't just hit on her brother. She heard more laughing and her brother's sounds of disgust, but she continued walking, hoping to suppress her blush before she returned to the others.

She snuck a glance behind her at her traveling party, and a blur of white and pink disentangled from the group, leaping into Katara's arms. She realized that the bundle of pink was hugging her, and she hesitantly hugged the small girl back. Katara's eyes found Sokka's over the mage's shoulder, but he just shrugged. The mage pulled back a little and peered at Katara with wide, innocent eyes.

"I haven't introduced myself yet," she said, a pout tainting her chirpy voice. "I'm Akka, the Magician! But you can call me Tennin. You're Katara, right? Sokka's sister?"

Katara nodded hesitantly, still confused by girl's closeness.

Tennin smiled widely and clutched Katara's hand in her own. "I think we're going to be great friends, Katara."

"Um, yeah. Great friends." Katara smiled back at the girl, trying to fake some semblance of forbearance of the girl. Katara would have probably liked the girl more if she flirted with Sokka less. She loved her brother, but she never quite understood all the feminine attention he always seemed to get.

Tennin gave Katara another swift hug and skipped gleefully back to Sokka's side. It was only then that Katara realized that the whole group had given up their conversation to watch the mage's strange yet slightly adorable behavior.

When Tennin began a soft conversation with Sokka, the others returned their attention to each other. Sufficiently recovered from her embarrassment, Katara fell back into step with the group.

"Hi, Katara!" Aang said happily. "It's been awhile since we gamed together."

Katara smiled at the boy and nodded in agreement. "Did you help Sokka design the game too?"

He nodded fiercely. "I designed the animals and monsters in the game. I love animals so much, and I've travelled around looking for interesting ones so much that Sokka thought it was the perfect job for me. Did you know that I rode the giant koi fish off the coast of Kyoshi Island?" The excitement in his voice rose with every syllable, and he obviously enjoyed his role in designing the game.

Katara loved playing with Aang, because he was so happy and spirited almost all of the time. "No," she responded. "I didn't know about that."

Aang proceeded to regale her with all the details of his adventure, sometimes leaping and bending the air around him in his enthusiasm. The road down the volcano was long but somewhat narrow, giving the young monk plenty of time for his tale. They met no monsters when walking down the volcano path. Katara thought that this was likely because the path was much too narrow for battling.

As she walked and listened to the boy's tale, she glanced around at her companions. Jet seemed to be listening to the animated monk's tale, nodding and laughing at all the appropriate times. Katara was sad to see that Toph kept shooting distracted glances at Tennin and Sokka who were talking in low imperceptible tones. Toph had a bit of a crush on her idiot brother, but Katara knew that it would be a long time before he ever realized it. He was sometimes rather oblivious to things like that.

She turned her eyes to Axel last. He hovered at the back of the group, not seeming to look at anything in particular. He had a solemn almost tense look about him, as if he took the game more seriously than was really necessary. Suddenly his gold eyes snapped up to meet her purple ones, and she was mesmerized by them. She wondered vaguely if that's what his eyes were like in real life. His eyes bore into her, and she felt seared by the intensity. Flushing, she turned her attention fully back to Aang.

Aang was wrapping up his story, his blond curls bouncing around his wide gray eyes. The ground was leveling out, and a large temple gate lay ahead of them. Aang's large eyes turned happy, and he grinned at Katara.

"Here's where the fun will really starts," he said, joy on his childish features. "Let's go!" he shouted, exhilarated. He grabbed her hand, and they were running. The sensation of running like this with Aang was very different than running with Jet in the caves. Then, her heart had sped up, and she had been entranced by Jet's voice. Now, with his small hand in hers as they raced down the hill, she felt younger and more childish, and she laughed with him as he ran on feet that were lighter than air. When they were almost to the gate, the boy tripped, his hand wrenched from hers as he toppled the remaining way down the hill and hit one of the pillars roughly.

"Oomph," came the muffled cry. Katara rushed forward to help him, but the boy was on his feet almost instantly.

"Are you okay?" she cried in concern.

Sokka sighed in exasperation somewhere behind her. "Of course he's fine. Or do you think that I made the game so you can feel intense pain like that? What do you think I am, Katara, a masochist?"

Katara turned towards her brother and gave him a sour face. "The only reason I don't know what's going on or how this game works is because of you. You suck at explaining things."

"Hey, don't complain to me! I gave you the easiest character to control. If you can't handle that, then that's not my fault."

Katara's brow ticked dangerously. "Easiest character?" she asked, her voice unnaturally calm.

"Yeah," Sokka replied. "All you really have to do is stand there, and if you get into trouble, you have big strong guys to save you. It's kind of sickening, actually."

"What am I supposed to do if you wanted me to end up in someone's arms in every single cut scene?" she said, her voice getting louder with every word.

"Oh don't give me that, Katara. You love the attention," he said shaking his head. When he continued his voice was high-pitched, an attempt to mimic his sister's voice. "Oh, Axel, you're so strong and handsome and wonderful. Never let me go!" Sokka hugged himself and made exaggerated kissing faces in the air. Toph and Jet laughed from where they were standing, watching the quarrel.

Katara made a strange sound of disgust and embarrassment. Her eyes snapped in Axel's direction, and she saw that he was mortified and turning a strange shade of violent pink. She was at a loss for words, and for a moment she could only stare mutely at her brother.

"Can't even deny it," Sokka said at her continued silence, a triumphant smirk on his features. Katara surreptitiously looked around for water to bend but found none. She began to approach him, heat rising up her neck. Obviously, her stormy expression frightened her brother as he fell back a few steps.

Suddenly she saw Axel stride purposefully forward. She noticed that his features had reddened further, and as he passed by Katara, he grabbed her roughly just above her elbow and dragged her the remaining few feet to the large gate.

She struggled against his hand as she stumbled along next to him. She heard Sokka shout in triumph as Axel tugged her away from her brother.

"And you," she shouted, jerking fruitlessly in his tight grip. "You're just making things worse."

Why was everyone dragging her around anyway? It was as if they were in competition for her attention. Or maybe fighting over possession of her. She wasn't really sure why all the guys in the group felt like she must be lead around like a lost helpless kitten.

When the small electronic voice in her head said, "Cut scene initiating," she understood his intention. He was using the cut scene to end an uncomfortable conversation.

Axel wrapped his arms around her as the red in his cheeks faded, and his expression suddenly became more regal. She felt her face relax into a gentle smile, and she looked up at the golden-eyed emperor that had his arms around her.

Maybe this was the wrong cut scene to end the argument she had been having with Sokka.

"The road to the capital city. The first step towards a bright future." His voice still had that rasp that she was quickly finding that she rather liked, but his voice was softer than she had ever heard it.

She nodded at him, happily. "Our bright future." Her voice was gentle, loving, and almost foreign to her own ears. She wondered if she'd ever find someone in real life that would coax that strange blissful voice from her lips.

Jet came up behind them and smiled sadly at Katara. "Don't forget about us. We'll be there for you too."

Katara felt a strange pang of sadness, and her lips pulled down into a frown. His hand brushed hers for a brief moment, and he walked ahead of them into the forest. Inside her head, Katara sighed as she realized that the game was setting up for an unrequited love side-plot. This would only further complicate her relationships with her strange little gaming party.

"I'd never forget any of you." The words were pulled from her lips and filled with sadness and regret. Katara's voice was low, but Axel's character seemed to hear it.

"Don't worry, my dearest love. He'll understand some day."

"Maybe," Katara heard her voice say sadly. She turned a small, sorrowful smile up at the emperor. "If we're together, I'm sure it'll be okay."

Katara was horrified as she leaned up on her tiptoes to press a chaste kiss to Axel's lips.

As Katara regained control of her character, her lips were still pressed to Axel's, and with her cheeks heating up, she was uncomfortably aware of her heart jumping strangely in her chest.

**--End Level 3--**

A Jet/Sokka joke slipped in there. How odd.

I hope you guys enjoyed it. This chapter was pretty fun to write, but it took a while to get it right. I rewrote several parts of it before I thought it was good enough to post. Comments and criticism is always nice.


	4. Level 4: The Returners

**--Virtually a Princess--**

**+Level 4: The Returners+**

Katara stumbled away from Axel, her fingers on her lips. She turned a murderous glare on her brother and marched quickly into the forest. She breezed past Jet, hoping he didn't notice the tears that were welling up in her eyes. She scrubbed her lips with the back of her hand, and she cursed at Sokka in her head.

Her first kiss! To a guy she barely knew! In an online game no less!

She heard Jet's voice behind her, but she was too confused and mortified to respond.

"Hey, wait." His voice was concerned and held a warning. "Don't go too far. You're a lower level than most of us. We don't want you to get attacked out there on your own."

She heard him following her.

Okay, she told herself. It's just a game, so it doesn't count as a _real_ kiss. She told herself that, and it helped ease her stinging feelings. Strangely, the kiss hadn't been that bad, even if it was fake. She still needed to find a way to soothe her unrest, however. Then she heard it: the sound of rushing water. There was a stream somewhere out of sight hidden behind the trees to her right.

Water. Her element. That would soothe her tumultuous feelings.

With a smile on her face, she raced into the trees, leaping over the obstacles in her way. She heard an exclamation of surprise from Jet, who followed her into the woods. The water was like a siren, and it was calling her deeper into the trees.

She heard Jet shouting to her. After a few moments, far behind, she faintly heard the others in the group rushing through the undergrowth after her, but she only ran faster. After a run that seemed shorter than it actually was, she was almost there, and she knew that the next cluster of trees was all that stood between her and her element.

Katara broke out of the trees, and for a moment, the stronger light of the clearing blinded her. Her eyes quickly adjusted, however, and before her a small stream bubbled happily away from the towering volcano that she could still see over the tops of the trees.

She lifted a trail of water and let it dance around her. Some of the water froze into ice crystals, and the ice caught the sunlight beautifully. For a few moments, surrounded only by the sound of water and engrossed in the process of bending the water around her, she was utterly happy, but the peace didn't last very long. Almost at the same moment, a monster came thundering out of the underbrush as something in one of the trees swung into Katara, grabbing her roughly by the waist.

Frustrated anger at her rescuer clawed at her, because she was sick and tired of being the character everyone felt the need to save. She heard her rescuer gasp in shock as her foot connected with his shin with enough force that she was dropped in his surprise. Katara hit the ground rolling to lessen the blow before realizing that there wasn't one. It was odd not feeling pain but still feeling everything else.

Katara shrugged off her thoughts of her rescuer and her lack of pain as she turned her attention to the monster that had attacked her. Nothing like a good fight to work off steam, Katara thought to herself. She smiled as she realized it was only a hogmonkey. Her waterbending could easily deal with this poor creature. Taking a deep stance, she pulled her hands into the air, a trail of water following her fingers. With a twitch of her fingers, the water froze, and a smirk lit her features as she sent a volley of ice at the monstrous creature that was bounding towards her.

The ice struck it and melted back into water as a '-20 HP,' hovered in the air near her opponent. It screeched in anger and pain, but it wasn't down yet. It charged at her, and although she dodged to her left, the creature managed to barely hit her arm. '-15 HP,' floated in the air near Katara's head. She growled and sent more ice flying at the screaming hogmonkey. The ice connected with it, a '-16 HP,' floating nearby in the air, but it still had some fight left. It charged at her, and Katara bent some water into small ice daggers. When the hogmonkey was relatively close, and she buried the ice into the animal's side as it passed her.

It didn't fade even after the third attack, instead preparing to come at her again. Before it could charge her, however, a strange hooked weapon connected with the monster with a dull thud. '-50 HP Just Kill,' floated near the hogmonkey's head. It fell to the ground and faded into the air with a final screech.

Katara looked at Jet with eyes still lit with the excitement of the fight. "I could've finished it," she said, a fake pout gracing her lips.

Jet chuckled. "I have no doubt about that," he said and made a show of readjusting the plate of armor over his shin.

Katara lifted an eyebrow and smiled. "Oh, come on. I didn't hurt you."

"No," he said, walking towards her with a confident swagger that Katara was beginning to recognize as characteristic of Jet. "But if it had happened in real life, I bet you would have."

He stopped near her, and she smiled up at him, teasing challenge in her eyes. "Yeah. Probably so. I can handle myself."

He chuckled again and said, "With that ice, you could be our Shiva. The tough, beautiful Ice Queen." His eyes traveled down her character once. "Except, perhaps, with more clothing."

Katara felt her face heat up slightly. Shiva didn't have much clothing in any of the Final Fantasy games, and Katara was much too modest for Shiva's outfits. She met Jet's amused stare with her own. She opened her mouth to retort, but a shout interrupted their conversation.

"Where are you guys? Katara! Jet!" Sokka sounded annoyed.

Without taking his eyes from hers, Jet shouted, "Follow the sound of water."

"Should've figured," came Sokka's sarcastic reply.

A few moments later, Sokka and the rest of the gaming party came through the trees, and Jet took a few steps away from her. Sokka made a strange face at his sister before marching over to her.

"You and your magic water," he cried in an exasperated voice. "Let's get back to the trail. We'd probably be to the first village already if you hadn't run off like a crazy person."

Katara huffed at her brother and soaked him with a wave from the stream. Sokka made that strange angry sound—a mix between a shout and a groan— in his throat that always amused her. Bubbly laughter came from behind Sokka, though, and Katara looked up to see Tennin approach the soaked boy.

"Your character is even cuter when he's wet." Tennin laughed again and played with the Sokka's dripping hair. Sokka's anger faded into that silly contented look that he usually has around females, but the earth beneath him suddenly shifted. He hit the ground roughly, the water in his hair and clothes creating a small puddle. When Sokka rose to his feet, dirt and muddy patches coated his face, hair, and clothing.

"TOPH!!" he cried, his voice cracking in exasperated defeat and his noble features twisting into a very Sokka-like expression of distress.

Toph shrugged her shoulders. "Are we going or not?"

Sokka sighed and began the trek back to the trail. Katara watched the rest of the group go ahead of her, and she turned to gaze at the water in the stream longingly. Her character didn't seem to carrying anything in which she could transport water. Pulling a thin ribbon of water into the air wistfully, she turned to follow the others. She was startled to see that Axel stood at the edge of the forest waiting for her.

He seemed to dither uncertainly a moment when he looked at her before clearing his throat and saying, "You have a spell to conjure water. I helped Sokka with the character maps and the story so…"

Katara, confused, tapped her necklace and peered at the strange spells on her abilities list.

"Which…?" she started to ask.

"Mizu. It means water in an old, formal language of the Fire Nation."

Katara's eyebrows twisted in confusion. "I didn't know that the Fire Nation ever had a different language from everyone else."

Axel sputtered for a moment, seeming to look for an appropriate response. "It was only used by the upper class so… not even many people from the Fire Nation know that."

Katara smiled awkwardly at him. "Thanks. For helping me, that is."

"Ah… you're welcome." He turned and started to disappear into the trees. He stopped and looked at her again. "And I'm sorry. About all the awkwardness."

"No, it—"

For some unidentifiable reason to Katara, Axel's face became frustrated and angry. His voice got louder, more annoyed. "There's no reason it should be awkward. I mean, it's just a game, right?!"

He seemed to be talking more to himself that to her, and Katara watched, bemused, as he turned and stomped into the forest with a strange air of offended dignity.

She followed behind him, distractedly watching the retreating back of the boy in front of her.

--

The monsters in the forest were low level enemies and were easily exterminated by the large party. Going through the forest was fun, and with the many random battles, Katara was thankfully spared from more embarrassment from her brother's teasing. Leveling up was a slow process, however, and Katara decided that she needed to level up on her own after the others logged off.

They had just defeated a strange group of wolf-like creatures that Katara had never seen before when an arrow struck the ground in front of her.

A low buzz and a familiar voice in her ear was her warning before her limbs were no longer her own. Axel was immediately in front of her, swords drawn. She was surprised when her own character reached for her dagger and took on a rather solid defensive stance.

A group dropped out of the trees, surrounding the party on all sides. Though the members of the group were of various statures, they all wore similar masks and armor.

"Who are you? What are you doing in this part of the forest?" a rough voice snapped. Katara realized it was coming from the apparent leader of the group that stood directly in front of her. This person had wild hair that spiked out in odd directions. The face was mostly obscured by a black mask.

"We are just a simple group of travelers on our way to the capital," Axel said without dropping his aggressive posture.

"Simple travelers, huh? With those kind of weapons?" The wild-haired individual stopped and seemed to consider them. "Well if you're going to the capital, you're going to need that kind of weaponry."

Axel's expression contorted with confusion.

Then Jet's voice came from behind Katara. "Smellerbee?"

The masked person jerked around to peer at Jet.

"Mamoru?! It's you!" The mask fell to the ground revealing a girl with wide, round eyes and red markings on her face. The group dropped their aggressive stances as the girl—Smellerbee?—shouted, "Guys, Mamoru's back!!"

The group lead Katara's party back to a town hidden in the forest. A lift was lowered and the party was pulled upwards into an amazing hideaway in the treetops.

The words "The Returners" in a flowing elegant calligraphy floated in the air in front of the group before Katara finally regained control of her body.

--

Katara approached Smellerbee with a smile. The smaller girl turned and smiled back at her.

"Mamoru organized us to help him find the dragon with the jewel in its forehead," Smellerbee said proudly.

"Oh, then what are you doing here now?" Katara asked pleasantly.

"You must be the princess that he said he had to help," Smellerbee continued as if Katara hadn't spoken.

"Yes, well…" Katara looked at her brother who was unsuccessfully trying to suppress his giggles.

"After Mamoru left, we formed 'The Returners' to protect the freedom of the people of this country."

Katara realized that this character was a NPC—a non-player character. She felt silly for talking to a NPC as though it were a player, but instead of being embarrassed, she was confused.

"If she's an NPC, who's voice acting this character?"

Jet laughed. "I got some of my friends to do some of the voices for us. We didn't want all the side characters to talk exclusively with text bubbles or electronic voices. These characters are named after my friends."

"Oh, I see."

Smellerbee turned her wide eyes on them one final time and said, "When you're ready, we're having a meeting at that center cabin over there." She pointed at the largest tree house in the area before falling still. When Katara walked past Smellerbee, she listened as the girl prattled, "Mamoru organized us to help him find the dragon with the jewel in its forehead." Katara almost laughed. They had amazing virtual technology, but NPCs never changed.

--

The Returners treetop village was amazing, Katara decided. The group had broken apart and explored alone or in pairs. Katara was exploring alone, and she had found a roof onto which she could climb. She found a small glass ball that claimed to be a vial of Healing Waters. She shoved it into the small bag that now hung at her side that she had purchased from one of the vendors. When she swung down from the building's roof, she found herself face to face with Axel. In his surprise, he fell onto his backside, and he peered up at her with a strange expression.

He stood and dusted himself off with as much decorum as he could. In a gruff, self-conscious voice, he said, "We're grouping up at the center house to get the next scene."

He then brushed past her without sparing her a second glance. She shrugged and followed him to the center building.

--

Almost as soon as she entered the building, the cut scene began, and she found herself sitting at a long table in between Jet and Axel. Smellerbee was at the head of the room, and she began the meeting.

Immediately, Axel said, "You mentioned unrest in the capital. What is going on?"

Smellerbee frowned. "When you disappeared, Emperor, there was a power struggle in the capital since you had no children of your own and the nephew that you appointed as heir is still young. With all the fighting, the capital was in chaos. But then this man came out of nowhere who said he'd been chosen by your mother who now resides in the Heaven as the heir to the throne."

"And the people believed him?" Sokka asked.

"He made some great display of celestial power, and the citizens bowed to him. The capital is controlled by his thugs, and conditions within the city are bad. The city and the surrounding villages are being robbed and ransacked by the new dictator. With no one to protect them, the city and the villages will eventually be destroyed."

"So that's why you're here," Toph said. "You're protecting the nearby villages."

The girl at the head of the room nodded. "Yeah, Mamoru had organized us, and after he got the jewel, he left in search of the other Knights. Soon after we left Mamoru, we found out that the Princess and the Emperor had disappeared a few weeks earlier while we were at sea. The city was in already being torn apart by the new dictator, and we knew that we were powerful enough to make a difference."

"But nothing is going to change unless someone reinstates the real Emperor," Tennin said, her voice stern. Katara found that the tone was odd coming from such a happy, chirpy voice.

"She's right," Jet said, gazing sadly at Smellerbee. "Something has to be done."

Katara was surprised when she herself began to speak. "We'll do something about it. We have the real Emperor with us."

All eyes leveled on her, and her face heated up. "I mean… it's the only thing we can do, right?"

A hand took hers under the table and a booming voice said, "As my last act as Emperor of this land, I shall reinstate my true heir."

Katara glanced up at Axel, and she felt confusion on her face. "You mean…?"

He smiled at her. "My place has always been and will always be by your side, dearest Princess of the Moon, but before I can relinquish my throne to follow you, I need to set my kingdom in order."

Katara nodded at him, a happy warmth spreading through her.

"Then to the capital city we shall go," Aang said just before the patching chip released the characters from their strange song and dance.

**--End Level 4--**

I know the whole 'He stole my first kiss' is oh-so-shojo. Certainly a manga/anime/game cliché but I felt that Katara would be angry about kissing a stranger. The mortification would definitely be worse, though if it were her first kiss.

The 'old, formal language,' of the Fire Nation is actually going to be Japanese. Because that's what I'm taking at my university, and it's easier than inventing a language. I don't figure that's too out of character for the show since so much is in kanji and has so many Asian influences.

I find NPCs fun. I think it's perfectly ridiculous when they repeat themselves a million times, but the idea that even in the virtual reality world NPCs are still confined to a few key phrases is rather funny to me.

'The Returners' is a freedom fighter group in Final Fantasy 6. When I was writing that bit, I was hearing their theme song in my head. Haha. Mixing fandom is fun.

For those who don't play Final Fantasy, the bit about Shiva will likely not make much sense. She's likely one of my favorite summon creatures/aeons/espers/ect., but when all that stands between you and an embarrassing bit of accidental nudity is a bit of conveniently place ice, you need to put some more clothes on lol


	5. Level 5: A Stranger's Arms

**A/N-** This chapter is sort of dialogue heavy. I hope that doesn't bother anyone. I do hope that all my dear readers enjoy this chapter. It was one of the ones that I most looked forward to writing. Thanks for all your feedback!

As I make so many video game references within the chapters, I'm going to start sectioning off explanations at the end of the chapter for those who don't play games as this is essentially an Avatar fic.

**--Virtually a Princess--**

**+Level 5: A Stranger's Arms+**

"Katara!" Aang beamed up at her. "Look at what I found!"

When the cut scene ended, the party had been led to the edge of the trees that hid the village of the Returners and had been directed to the road that led to the capital.

Katara smiled at the young airbender who held a necklace delicately in his upturned palms. A small pink flower was the center of a beautifully crafted choker.

"Oh, it's beautiful, Aang. Just gorgeous," she responded, admiring the design.

"Here, Katara, you can have it." The boy smiled encouragingly at her, urging her to take it.

"Oh, but, Aang—"

"It's a girls-only accessory. Take it. It'll boost your magic and give you more defense against earth based attacks."

Toph snorted somewhere behind her and said, "Like that trinket'll really help."

Aang shot her a reproachful look over Katara's shoulder and leaned up onto the tips of his toes. "I'll put it on for you."

Katara allowed the boy to hook the necklace, his soft hands tickling the sensitive skin of the back of her neck. When he finished, she reached up to touch the flower on her neck but was surprised when her fingers met only skin.

"If you want it to show up on your character, you have to set it on your options," Aang supplied happily.

"What?"

Sokka moaned impatiently. "I designed the perfect characters with the perfect outfits so I didn't want to be forced to change their appearance the first time we upgraded armor."

Katara's brows knit together. "So you mean, it's like older games where even when you change their clothes, the appearance stays same?"

"Exactly," her brother agreed. "Even when you equipped Cloud with some strange armor, he's still wearing that crazy purple Lego jumpsuit on screen." He seemed to stop and consider that statement for a moment. "Except when he wore that dress, I suppose."

Katara giggled. That was her favorite part of Final Fantasy 7. "Well, is there any way I can make the necklace show up?"

The older boy sighed melodramatically as if she requested he perform the hardest task in the game. He was smiling as he approached his sister though.

Sokka enjoyed showing off his knowledge.

He tapped her moon necklace, and when the abilities menu appeared, he gestured at the top of the menu. In the corner of the menu, there was an arrow which Sokka tapped, and her ability screen was replaced by an equipment screen.

"See, when this box is checked, your default appearance remains intact even when you change armor, accessories, or shoes. If you want to add something to your appearance, you can tap this little box here, and it'll be added to your appearance." Sokka touched the box next to the words 'Flower Pendant,' and suddenly, Katara felt a new weight on her neck.

"Now," Sokka continued. "You can equip something and get the benefits of it without physically putting it on. Just put it in your inventory and check equip. But if you find an armor or outfit that you particularly like, you can turn off the default appearance—though I can't imagine why you'd want to when I made your character so pretty—and use the new armor as your character appearance." He scowled at her as if the mere idea of changing her lovely outfit was traitorous. "Happy now?"

Katara smiled broadly at her brother. "Perfectly happy, thanks." She touched her new necklace and patted the blond head of the eager young boy in front of her. "It's great, Aang. Thanks." She swept him into a hug which the airbender happily returned. The boy's breath tickled her neck, and she laughed lightly.

When she withdrew from the boy, she heard her brother sigh overdramatically.

"If you're finished flirting, can we get moving?"

Katara glared venomously at her brother who merely shrugged nonchalantly.

Jet approached Katara with a grin on his lips. In a whisper that she hoped no one else heard, he said, "I hope you're not quite done flirting actually."

Katara blushed deeply and couldn't make eye contact with Jet.

Resuming his normal volume, he asked, "Would you like me to escort you, milady?" Before she could respond, he had pulled her arm through his own and began walking down the road, confidence exuding from every movement. She felt rather comfortable and warm walking with him like that. The others fell into step behind them, but the journey was very soon interrupted again.

A strange buzzing filled the air, and at first, Katara thought that another cut scene was starting. She realized, however, that the buzzing was coming from Axel's character, and she was startled to find that his character was blinking in and out of existence, his features fuzzy and slightly warped.

When he spoke, his voice was cutting out as if he were on the other end of a cell phone with bad reception. "Someone… messing… helmet." Even with the distortions, Katara could see the annoyance painting his pale face. His voice became louder, angrier. "—_**back**_," was his last coherent word before his character faded completely.

Katara watched Axel but was distracted by the feeling of her arm nestled comfortably in Jet's.

"Did he just lose all that leveling up and stuff?" Katara asked, dismayed. As a long-time gamer, losing any time or effort in her games was one of the single worst incidents that could occur to her while she played. She vividly remembered the aggravation and frustrated rage that she had felt when Sokka had 'accidently' wiped an entire memory card worth of save data.

"Naw," Sokka said. "The game is set to autosave after cut scenes." He sighed. "Don't really want to continue without him though. He's pretty important in these first few villages." Sokka pulled up his menu and checked the time blinking on the corner of the screen. "It's getting kinda late anyway. And I promised Gran Gran that I'd help with dinner today."

Katara gagged loudly, and the rest of the party laughed.

Sokka glared at her for a moment before clearing his throat. "I'll have you know I'm an excellent cook."

The only response that he received from Katara was another gagging sound, but Tennin laughed. With a playful smile, she said, "I'd love to try your cooking."

Sokka's cheeks colored slightly and his features relaxed into an floppy smile. "Um...I guess I'll see you guys later. I've set all the gaming times according to everyone's schedule. I'll e-mail them to everyone later tonight."

"What if Axel comes back?" Katara asked.

"So what?" Sokka responded.

"So what if he logs back on and thinks we left without him?"

Sokka snorted. "He's a big boy. He'll figure it out."

Katara rolled her eyes at her brother. "Whatever."

She felt Jet's eyes on her, and she looked up at him. He smiled down at Katara with his scarred eyebrow arched playfully. "Till next time then." His character faded from existence, and she imagined him fading like the Cheshire Cat, those alluring upturned lips lingering longer than the rest of his body.

"I had a lot of fun." Tennin's voice was happy, and Katara could practically hear the mage wink at Sokka when she said, "See ya later, cutie."

Katara turned just in time to see a fading glimmer of pink near her brother.

"See you newbies later," was all Toph said before she vanished too.

Aang's shoulders slumped. "Awww… I wish we could play longer." He recovered quickly though, and he bounded over to Katara. "It was great to play with you again. Can't wait till the next log on."

He grinned up at her, all joy and fun. She leaned down and placed a kiss on his blond curls.

"Bye, Aang," Katara said happily.

With a pink blush on his cheeks, the young monk faded also.

Sokka mimicked Katara's earlier gagging sound. She glowered at him for a moment before saying, "I'm going to level up a little longer."

"Oh, that's right. You were trapped in the stone during the whole storming the volcano part, weren't you?"

"That was why we didn't meet in monsters coming down, I guess."

"Yeah," Sokka agreed. "I set the volcano monsters to not respawn. I figured it would be redundant and boring having to fight all the same monsters coming back down."

"You're just making up your own rules for this game as you go along, aren't you?" Katara asked, smiling.

Sokka shrugged. "Pretty much." He laughed and hugged her tightly. "It's fun playing together, little sister."

"Yeah," she agreed, her smile widening. "Even if you are an annoying twat sometimes."

"An annoying, loveable twat," Sokka corrected. "I'll come get you when dinner is ready."

She nodded.

"Oh, and make sure that you come back here and save manually from the menu sometimes. You want to start here with the group next time we continue playing." Sokka's eyebrows disappeared into his hair, and his voice became quiet and intense, his tone cautionary. "And be careful, little sister. If you die in the game, you die _in real life._"

She swatted his arm playfully, and he cackled maniacally.

He faded into the air, and for a moment, his presence next to her was sorely missed. She squared her shoulders and looked into the woods around her.

Time to get down to business.

--

The nymph may have been beautiful if its face hadn't been twisted into a menacing snarl and its hair wasn't dirty and tangled. The humanoid leapt at her, shrieking. Katara thrust out her dagger, and the nymph's bloodshot, crazed eyes widened and stared blankly into space as she vanished.

Katara sighed and leaned against the tree. She'd leveled up quite a bit, and at this point, the monsters' levels were too low for her to gain much experience for killing them. She decided it was time to walk back to the patch of road at which her comrades would spawn next time they logged on.

She heard something behind her, and she shrugged mentally. One more battle wouldn't change much.

A blur of color and a flash of steel later she found herself parrying one blade with her dagger as another blade hovered a mere inch from her throat. Light reflected off the metal and glinted in the golden eyes gazing quite intensely into hers.

She stared back at him, mesmerized once again by the color of his eyes. Sokka certainly had gotten something right. For the second time in only a few hours, she wondered if Axel's eyes were this gorgeous in real life.

Both were frozen in place, but no tension hung in the air. Their eyes were locked, but they were assessing and measuring. Wondering and questioning.

This was a good place to start understanding each other, Katara thought. By looking one another in the eyes.

Katara recovered first. She glanced down at the blade hovering above her skin and cleared her throat.

Axel blinked a few times as though he was bringing himself back to the virtual world. His eyes lit up with understanding, and he muttered an almost inaudible, "Sorry." He retreated a few steps and sheathed his blades.

"No… it's okay. I sort of attacked you too."

Katara and Axel looked in opposite directions, an awkward silence filling the space between them. By the sound of it, Katara thought that he was shuffling his feet and kicking at the ground. A pebble flew into her peripheral vision and confirmed her suspicion.

"So…," she started lamely. She seized the first thought in her head. "Your helmet is okay now?"

There was more shuffling. "Yeah. It was just my sister messing with me."

"Ah, okay."

"When I logged back on and no one was there, I figured we'd stopped for the day. I thought I'd level up." His voice was quiet, and she had to strain to hear him. "That's what I was doing when I, er, attacked you."

"Ah, I see. I was trying to level up too."

Silence reigned again, and Katara wondered if this awkward conversation would ever end.

When Axel spoke again, she was finally able to pull her eyes from the ground and look at him.

"So, have you enjoyed the game so far?" He sounded earnestly interested, and when he risked a glance at her, she smiled.

"Actually, I am. The story seems interesting enough. It's very romantic too. I love games with good romance." Katara paused and laughed. "I'm actually surprised that my brother could write such lavish romantic dialogue."

When he replied, Katara noticed pink tinge his cheeks.

"You like the dialogue?" he asked, keenly waiting for her answer though he was desperately trying to feign unconcern.

She smiled inwardly. So Axel wrote the dialogue.

Katara nodded. "Yeah, I do, but I hope we get more back story about our romance." His blush deepened, and he coughed. Her heart sped up. "I mean 'their.' Their romance. The princess and the emperor's."

He nodded in understanding, but his blush didn't fade. "There is more back story about their romance."

She was beginning to enjoy this conversation, and she wanted to know more about Axel's part in the game.

"So you helped with the story and the dialogue, right?"

He nodded quickly and took a shaky, uncomfortable breath. "I wrote most of the dialogue." The fact that it was difficult for him to admit this was extremely evident. He squirmed a bit more, and Katara almost felt sorry for asking him. He finally seemed to collect his thoughts, and he continued, "The story is actually based on an old Fire Nation legend."

"The Fire Nation has legends about the moon and its princess?" she asked, intrigued.

He met her eyes as his eyebrows tugged down in disapproval.

"Of course we do. The Fire Nation appreciates the beauty and the grace of the moon. I thought that since Sokka was from the Water Tribe and that the moon was so important there that he might like to read the story. So I e-mailed it to him. He liked the whole idea of a moon princess." Axel shrugged. "A few weeks later, he asked me if I could turn it into a video game plot line. So I did."

Katara smiled at his strange explanation. "Well, you did a wonderful job. I don't know what Sokka would have come up with if he didn't have help."

He murmured a quiet 'Thank you,' and they both fell silent again.

"Well, I'm sure dinner is about done, so I'm going back to save over at our respawn point."

Axel nodded. "It's about time I logged off too. I'll walk with you."

They walked mostly in silence, and they both tried desperately to avoid each other's eyes. He had tripped once, and she had caught his hand, steadying him the best she could. The touch was brief, but the memory of it hung in the air between them, silencing them more effectively than any taunt of Sokka's ever could.

When they neared their destination, they saw a blue blur hovering in the air in front of them before it solidified into Sokka's character.

Sokka's eyes widened as he looked at them both, emerging from the woods side by side. He smiled coyly.

"So this is why you stayed logged in, Katara. I realized that you were so worried about Sir-Sparks-a-lot, but…," he trailed off and laughed.

Axel almost visibly bristled. "It's not like that at all. We just met in the woods."

Sokka laughed heartily at the other boy's anger. "I was just kidding. Time for dinner, Katara."

She nodded at her brother. "Just let me save." She pulled up her menu and easily found the save function. She was feeling more comfortable with the game menu now. "There. Time to go." Hesitantly, she met Axel's eyes. "See you next time, I guess."

He raised a hand in a wave, and Katara smiled awkwardly at him.

She dropped her eyes and stared at his fingers as they faded. She'd never realized before how significantly being in a stranger's arms so many times could affect a relationship in its early stages.

As the forest around her faded into her room, she wondered what sort of environment Axel was waking up to in the Fire Nation. She wondered also how much the game's story would reflect the wants, the desires, and the pain of the perplexing stranger who had written it.

**--End Level 5--**

**A/N-** I'm not sure how much dorkier I can get. I made a reference to 'The Matrix' in this chapter. lol Extra points to those who can figure out what it is.

"Twat" equals extremely vague-ish Dane Cook reference. "Get the jelly, TWAT!" "Hey thanks man. Twat. That is a great word." lol Or something like that. Haha.

I realized that I have a ton of Jet/Katara flirting. I hope the Katara/Zuko awkwardness of this chapter makes up for it a little. I do feel strange about praising Zuko's game plot. It feels guiltily like an indirect compliment though it was not meant that way -.-'

**Video game references: **

-In Final Fantasy 7, Cloud wears a dress in order to infiltrate a… house of ill repute. So, er, he's not just a cross-dresser or anything. Haha. Cloud plus dress plus wig minus all of his masculinity equals love. : ) This is Katara's favorite part, because it's my favorite part. Simple as that : ) I do tease poor Cloud; I compared him to a Lego, but he really did look like one in the game. Haha.

-Respawn/Spawn- Essentially the character/monster/item appearing/reappearing. A respawn/spawn point is the place where something reappears. I include this note, because although this seems pretty obvious, I'm not sure if "spawn/respawn" is actually what most people refer to it as. So yeah.

- An unrelated, unimportant note on girls-only accessories- These can be very useful when you can't figure out a character's gender. In Final Fantasy 9, this was how I figured out Quina's gender. lol


	6. Level 6: A Glitch in the System

**--Virtually a Princess--**

**+Level 6: A Glitch in the System+**

Katara entered her room and sat on her bed. She ran a hand absently over her comforter which was a deep blue with splashes of white that were shaped like ice and snow. The walls were a lighter blue with one window covered with white lace curtains. A cute little window seat had been built into the wall, and she would often sit there on clear nights, letting the moon cleanse and strengthen her. She had a bookshelf near the window that housed all her favorite books, movies, and games. A desk stood against the wall next to her bed supporting a computer and a variety of other cluttered necessities. After a stressful day, her room was a safe haven, a place she could relax surrounded by calming blue. A light breeze whispered through the curtains, and she glanced at the alarm clock on her desk.

Time to hook in again.

Being away from the game for a few days made Katara doubt the things she had felt in that virtual world. Surely her mind was exaggerating the details. She approached her desk and found Sokka's new helmet in its box underneath it. Placing it on her head and tightening it around her temples was simple, mechanical, a motion her body recognized. Even so, she knew that hooking in would be radically different than normal.

She could feel the world warping and changing around her, soft blues being replaced by earthy green and brown. Her curtains transformed into leaves that were fluttering lazily in the wind. She could feel the warmth of the light that filtered through trees on her face, and the wind tugged at her hair and her dress. The world around her was vivid and overwhelming, and for a moment, a strange vertigo assaulted her senses. Having no confining stone to hold her upright like her previous log on, she stumbled forward, but steady hands caught her. These hands were strong and secure, but the skin was soft, the hands of a noble or a child who has never experienced blistering labor. Her eyes met a familiar gold, and she breathed a quiet, "Thank you."

"You're welcome," was the murmured reply. She caught her balance, and he released her.

The awkward tension wasn't quite as bad as last time, but she hadn't been subjected to the next cut scene yet. Standing next to her solemn companion, she watched the other players spawn into the world.

Sokka appeared a few moments after her, and he wiggled his eyebrows suggestively at her and Axel. In response, Axel took a few steps away from her and somehow managed to appear calm and unruffled by her brother's teasing. She noticed the tension in the boy's hands and smiled to herself.

It seemed that a few of the dignified fantasy emperor's feathers had been ruffled.

Jet appeared in all of his splendor, his shoulders back and his head high. His eyes swept over the area, and when they landed on Katara, he grinned, one eyebrow rising upward in a strangely attractive greeting.

Toph materialized, and after casting a look about the incomplete group, she threw herself into the dirt. Tennin sparkled into existence next, in motion even before she had become solid causing light to glint off of her pretty hair and her billowing white cloak. As soon as she was fully spawned into the game world, she bounded happily to Sokka's side.

As Tennin chatted happily with Sokka, Aang appeared with wind swirling around his character as though the virtual air was happy he'd joined its world. His large gray eyes lit up when he saw Katara, and after forming a swirling sphere of air, he leapt on it, allowing it to carry him to her side.

"Katara! How are you? Did you get my message earlier?"

"I'm good, Aang. I did get your message, but I had a waterbending training session. Maybe we can level up together some other time. Is that okay?"

The boy nodded exuberantly. "Well, come on, guys. Let's get this game started."

Aang turned and started running through the group. He was particularly energetic and inattentive, and in his haste, he collided with Sokka who hit the ground and was enclosed in a cloud of dust coming off of the dirt road.

Katara watched as Aang gazed down at her brother with a perplexed expression as though trying to figure out what he'd hit. The dust cleared, and her brother jerked his head around to glower pitifully at the younger boy.

"Oh, sorry, Sokka. You shouldn't stand in the middle of the road like that."

Sokka leapt to his feet and stalked down the road muttering under his breath. Tennin giggled and followed him. With a rush of air, Aang's staff became a glider, and he flew overhead, impatient to start the gaming session. Katara fell into step behind her brother and wasn't really surprised to find Jet close at her right elbow a few moments later. Jet started a friendly conversation with her. Toph decided to walk to Katara's left, but Nodding sarcastically at Jet's thinly-veiled flirting seemed to be the only reason that she joined them.

Katara noticed that Axel had taken a position at the back of the group again, as tense as he always seemed to be. His shoulders were rigid, his face twisted into an overly serious expression. She was confused by his peculiar tendency to be so somber while playing the game, but she pushed the thoughts away as the party began to encounter the monsters in this area of the forest.

She had leveled up enough that they weren't a problem, but that didn't make the battles any less fun.

--

"Surely this isn't the capital city," Katara said as they approached a cluster of collapsing hovels and buildings sagging in disrepair.

"No," Sokka replied. "But this village means we're getting close."

When they approached, Katara saw a group of women with elaborate face paint and green armor. They appeared to be guarding the entrance of the village. She realized as they got closer that these women were wearing the traditional outfits of the Kyoshi warriors.

As if cued, Aang fell out of the sky near her. "I met the Kyoshi warriors, and I helped Sokka get the armor design right." He beamed at her. "I liked the Kyoshi warriors; they were lots of fun."

"Coming to raid our village, strangers?" came an angry voice from the head of the group. Katara froze mid step, but no cut scene started. No one in her party seemed bothered by the angry armored woman, and she continued with them.

The group of women seemed to take this as a threat, and they took aggressive stances. Finally, Sokka, who was currently leading the group, halted in the road and seemed to wait for something.

Another voice broke through the tension. "Ladies, bow down. It's Emperor Kirin! The rightful ruler of this land."

Gasps filled the air, and all eyes locked on Axel.

"It _is_ the Emperor," the leader of the group said in a startled voice. She fell to her knees, and her comrades behind her followed their example. "Please feel free to enter our village, travelers."

The crowd of women rose to their feet and dispersed to take their normal places in the village.

"Let's explore and restock our inventory, guys," Sokka commanded.

--

The village wasn't large, and it didn't take long to explore. Buying new items had taken an even shorter amount of time. Katara had decided to talk to the NPCs to find out if there was any juicy in-game gossip. So far, she had mostly received inane, uninteresting information, but when she rounded the corner, she was face-to-face with another Kyoshi warrior. She was surprised because she had been to this corner of the village already. She didn't remember seeing an NPC here.

She approached the girl and watched the cute girl turn to smile at her. Almost immediately Katara recognized this girl as the one who had told her in text boxes that her house had been burned down in a raid earlier this month.

Most of the Kyoshi warriors in the village, excepting only the leader, hadn't had voice actors and spoke exclusively text boxes. For this reason, Katara was surprised further when the girl spoke out loud. Maybe this was a special encounter, and that's why this part had a voice over.

"Welcome to our village. I heard you are going to the capital."

Katara nodded at the smiling girl, but she was uneasy. This girl's voice was frightening and manipulative, the sound of a snake's voice personified in a human language.

"You are the Princess Kaguya, aren't you? Everyone in the village is talking about you." The girl's smile widened, and there was a menacing tone in the unnerving voice. "You're the Emperor's lover, they say."

Katara stepped away from the girl, goosebumps running up her arms. "Um…"

"You're so pretty," the girl cooed. "For a _Moon Princess_, that is."

A cold chill ran up Katara's spine, and she was relieved when she saw Jet and Sokka come around the corner of the building. Rushing over to them, she pointed at the smiling Kyoshi warrior.

"Whoever you got to voice act that warrior has a terrifying voice."

Sokka raised his eyebrows as though she were crazy. "That Kyoshi warrior doesn't have a voice."

Katara punched her brother's arm. "Yes, she does. She just talked to me."

Her brother merely shook his head in disbelief.

She huffed at him and trotted back towards the warrior. "I'll show you."

The girl turned sad eyes on Katara. A text box appeared near the girl's head and the words "Earlier this month, bandits raided the village and burned down my house," scrawled through the air.

"See," Sokka said triumphantly. "Come on, Katara. It's just your imagination. We came to get you. We're going to talk to the leader of the Kyoshi warriors, but we need you for this scene to activate right."

"No, really—"

Sokka was already moving away, dismissing his sister's claims with a wave of his hand.

Katara watched her brother and followed him hesitantly. She cast one look back at the warrior, and she was almost sure that the girl turned a wicked smile towards her. A shudder strong enough to make her shoulders tremble noticeably ran up Katara's back and down her arms.

It's just a glitch in the system, she told herself.

Jet looked at her with concern and patted her shoulder. He let his hand slide down and rest at the small of her back.

He smiled down at her encouragingly, and many of her confused thoughts about the unusual NPC flew from her head.

--

Katara snorted as the cut scene started, and the leader of the Kyoshi warriors began to speak. The girl's voice was very feminine and soft, and the girl's character was small and had an almost weak look about her.

She knew Suki, the real leader of the Kyoshi warriors, and had gamed with her on several occasions. Suki was one of the toughest girls she had ever played with online, and Katara had never introduced her to Sokka for fear that her brother's macho attitude would start an online war.

If Suki saw this weak, ultra-feminine portrayal of the Kyoshi warriors, she would definitely wage war on Sokka.

And she would most definitely win.

The girl explained in a high, feminine voice, "My name is Rei. I'm the leader of these warriors. I've heard that you wish to fight the false emperor."

Axel nodded.

Rei sighed. "You're not prepared to fight the false tyrant yet. He has a weapon that is covered in an ice that never melts. Not even the most powerful firebenders have been able to melt the ice. To defeat him, you must destroy his weapon first, and to do that, you'll need a powerful force."

Sokka interrupted. "But the Princess can control water and ice. Can't she use his weapon against him?"

The girl shook her head sadly. "Many waterbenders have tried to defeat him, and all have failed. You need a concentrated blast of lightning to shatter the ice on his weapon."

Aang focused hopeful eyes on Axel. "Emperor Kirin…?"

Axel shook his head. "I have not yet mastered lightning."

Rei nodded. "Few have, but I may have a solution. Deep in the woods near here where the leaves are so thick that no light can shine through them, an ancient temple stands. At the top of this temple, a gem is perched upon a pedestal." The girl turned to Katara. "Princess Kaguya, you are a member of the royal family of Heaven, and therefore you possess a very rare type of magic: summon magic. If you can get this gem, your magic gives you the ability to summon the ancient god of lightning, Quetzalcoatl. His lightning is strong enough to destroy the dreaded ice weapon of the false emperor."

Katara felt herself nod and heard her voice say, "If it will help defeat the false emperor, I'll find it."

"Be careful. To prove that you are worthy, you shall have to defeat the god before he will offer his strength. The mission is very dangerous, and no one has ever survived. You are from the Heavens, though. I believe that the ordained Empress of Heaven can handle this mission."

Katara's voice was quiet and shy but determined. "I shall win Quetzalcoatl's help, and then we shall dethrone the tyrant. We shall depart now." She turned on her heel, and she could feel eyes on her as she swept gracefully from the room.

Finally, her character was showing a little bit of backbone.

--

When they began walking through the densest part of the forest, the sun disappeared, and the gaming party was plunged into a never ending, almost impenetrable darkness. Even the fire that Axel conjured didn't fully combat the encroaching darkness. The creatures in this part of the woods were more vicious and more difficult to hit in the artificial night.

Katara couldn't discern much about the monsters; they came out of the darkness, glowing eyes and bared fangs. In her opinion, the most frightening of the enemies was a wraith with empty eyes and hair that floated eerily around her head. This specter would shriek in her shrill voice and lament in the most pitiable tones.

When the temple appeared out of the darkness, it too had the quality of a specter, eerie white stones piled together to create a staircase into the thick canopy. Katara's eyes followed the main staircase that rose up the center of the temple, but she could not see the top or the pedestal that should be there. Leaves and gnarled branches obscured her vision, and the darkness seemed to crowd tighter around the treasure that should be hidden at the zenith of the building.

"That's…that's where we're going?" Aang asked, his eyes large and fearful.

"It's okay, Aang," Katara said gently, a shiver running through her. "I mean, we've made it this far, right?"

The blond monk chuckled nervously. "I guess so."

"Come on, guys," Sokka said, his voice wavering. "It's just a battle. Nothing to get worked up about. Nothing at all. We're not in any _real_ danger."

Katara found it humorous that she should hear such fear from the principal creator of the game. He should have no doubt what waits in the darkness just above their heads. She laughed, but it was a quiet, almost frightened sound.

This strange laugh seemed to propel Sokka forward. He too began to laugh in a loud, boisterous voice, but it was only to break the silence. Katara was somewhat thankful because the unnatural silence was more frightening than any sounds that the unseen creatures of the forest could make.

Katara moved to follow the group up the stairs, but a quiet, tentative voice stopped her.

"…Katara?"

She glanced back at Axel who was pointedly staring at the ground. She colored slightly. "Yeah?"

"Are you… I mean, do you think you're ready for the, erm, battle?" He glanced up nervously at her face.

Katara scowled. Of course she was ready.

Axel, seeing her annoyance, plowed on. "Because Quetzalcoatl is, well, a lightning based monster, and your character is mainly a water elemental. I mean…" He began to stammer angrily. "What I'm trying to say is, you will be at a disadvantage, and so I was just wondering if you had taken that into account."

She shook her head at the boy who was shuffling awkwardly. In many of the Final Fantasy games, lightning dealt more damage to water elementals, but not all games operated with the same principle. She had not thought of her weakness against lightning, but that would certainly affect the battle.

"I'll just have to do my best, I suppose." She began to climb the stairs, but Axel's voice stopped her again.

"Well, actually, I have a pair of gloves that I bought in the village that absorb lightning attacks, and I thought since you were at a larger disadvantage than me…" He held out his hand, and a pair of black leather gloves lay in his palm.

Katara grinned at the boy who still had his eyes glued to the ground. When she reached out to take the gloves, her fingers brushed across his, and he jerked a little in surprise. He finally tore his gaze from the ground as she observed the gloves in her hands. She pulled them on over her little white gloves. She frowned as she watched them fade, her white gloves taking precedence over these new ones.

She heard her brother shout for them to hurry.

She glanced up at Axel who was becoming increasingly more uncomfortable. "I'll change my visual later. Right now we better hurry before my brother scares himself to death." She reached out and tugged at his sleeve. "Thanks, Axel. That was really thoughtful of you."

With one fleeting smile, she began to run nimbly up the stairs, her hair billowing out behind her, and she listened to his footsteps as he followed her at a slower pace. When she reached the top, she saw a pedestal with a gem placed carefully on a pillow of rich velvet. She approached the gem, almost entranced, and as she moved closer, she could see electricity flickering inside the deep blue orb.

When her fingers touched the smooth gem, a flash of lightning charged the air around them, and an ear-splitting rumble of thunder echoed through the darkness.

In the quick flash, Katara got a good look at something large flying above her small party.

Aang was the first to respond.

"Heh, heh, heh. So you must be Quetzalcoatl then."

--**End Level 6--**

Comments? Critique?

**Video game references:**

**-**Quetzalcoatl is the Aztec god of the sky and creation (I think), but I'm borrowing him from Final Fantasy 8. In the game, he shoots lightning. In the next chapter, I'll describe him more and might include a picture. His name is a combination of the name of a bird and the word for serpent which pretty much describes what he looks like. On that note, though, I tried to described the temple as an Aztec temple without actually using the word 'Aztec.'

-On water vs. lightning- Not all games use the lightning beats water setup, but that's how Final Fantasy 8 works. And since I stole Quetzalcoatl from that game…

-For Final Fantasy 7 fans, in the church scene of Advent Children, Tifa uses black leather gloves that absorb electricity (although when leather gained this property I don't know…) She uses this type of glove in the game too , but I don't actually know what they look like…


	7. Level 7: Taming a God

**--Virtually a Princess--**

**+Level 7: Taming a God+**

A swirling ball of electricity blinked into existence and ascended into the sky, an artificial sun to light an artificial night. When Quetzalcoatl came into the light, Katara almost wished for darkness again. On the small screen of her television in the original Final Fantasy 8, he hadn't really been that ferocious in appearance, but as he hovered in the sky just feet away from her with his wings spread out ominously, he looked every bit an avenging god.

His head and neck was almost serpent-like, and he had a slender body with expansive wings that dominated the sky and moved through the air the way a sting ray's moved through water. His head was a pale yellow that seeped down his smooth skin and slowly faded into a rich green, and a green tail swung languidly through the air behind him. He had large snake-like black eyes that gazed down at her almost curiously.

The god began to speak in a low, rumbling voice, and a whisper in Katara's ears informed her that a cut scene was starting.

"You have come here seeking my power, tiny human." Quetzalcoatl's lips barely moved as he spoke, and she was given only a glimpse of the row of large white teeth underneath. She was relieved that she couldn't see more. The god shook his head dolefully. "But, my cute little challenger, you are barely more than a child. What could inspire such a young, delicate girl to seek out my power?"

Katara felt her lip quiver uncertainly before she said, "I want to dethrone the false emperor and restore the balance of this country."

The god stared at her for a moment and then laughed. His mouth opened wide in his humor, and Katara was given a full view of the god's sharp fangs. Suddenly, she knew why Sokka sounded scared as he climbed the temple stairs.

He knew how terrifying Quetzalcoatl would be.

The laughter subsided, and large eyes bore into her, appraising. When he spoke, his eyes flickered to Axel.

"An emperor is distracted by his infatuation for a young woman and disappears, leaving his poor kingdom to fend for itself. With such a weak emperor, how can you hope to set things right?" The god continued as though he didn't expect an answer. "Even if you defeat this false emperor, the Heavens are in such a terrible state that no peace can truly be found on Earth until those Heavenly problems are fixed. Oh such a fragile princess to be overthrown by a pretender to the throne. Do you intend to handle the mistakes of both these ineffectual rulers and overthrow both of the tyrants, tiny girl child? You cannot hide your heritage from me, child of the Moon Kingdom."

Katara felt anger, frustration, and a suffocating sadness swirl within her. "I will defeat these tyrants, and I will win my throne back."

He laughed again, but the sound held no humor. "You are trying to solve this kingdom's problems, but the real trouble is with you. This land can have no peace until you, fated ruler of Heaven, can find strength enough to protect them. My strength shall not be sufficient to do your job for you. I can see no reason to help you unless you can prove that you are looking for your own strength."

"You shall know my strength, Quetzalcoatl!" Katara shouted, her voice betraying her anger and sadness. "And you will help me!"

"Can you truly tame my lightning, dear child of the Moon? We shall see!"

Katara's limbs were her own, and the battle started.

Electricity charged the air, and this was undoubtedly the most strenuous fight so far. When she was struck by the god's lightning, she felt the tingle of energy without feeling the accompanying pain. Axel's present kept the god's lightning attacks from dealing to much damage to her HP. His physical attacks did more damage; he would sweep his tail or his wing across the battlefield, taking a sizable bit of health from all of the party members with him.

The fight lasted awhile, but eventually the god laughed. He said, "You are determined, aren't you, tiny challenger? Where was that determination when you were torn from your throne? Where was your strength when you were left pitiful and helpless on this planet?"

Katara gasped as his tail swept past her, knocking her to the ground. She leapt to her feet and saw her comrades stand from the corner of her eyes.

"Cut scene initiating."

"Mizu!" Katara shouted, and water appeared under her fingertips. She lashed out, ice and water and angry hands.

Quetzalcoatl's eyes widened as the whip of water and ice struck his face.

"That's my determination and my strength. That's the depths of my courage," she responded, her voice quieter than ever. She chuckled, soft and humorless. "Stings, doesn't it?"

Unexpectedly, Quetzalcoatl laughed at her. "Your mother and father would be proud, little Kaguya. You have your father's courage, and your mother's big heart." The great god seemed prone to laughter, and a delighted chuckle rumbled in his throat. "You also have your father's temper and your mother's waterbending skills."

Katara gazed wondrously at him. Her voice was quiet and shy when she said, "You knew my parents?"

He nodded. "They don't call me a god for nothing, little one."

Now that the danger had passed, Katara could feel the princess's nervousness and her shyness coming back. "I don't understand why you're here. That's all."

The god smiled kindly at the timid princess. "When a god from the upper ring of Heaven dies, they can sometimes make a crucial decision: go on into the next realm of existence or take the form of a creature of their choosing. When I died in the upper realm of Heaven, I was given that choice."

Katara nodded, but she could feel the confusion on her face.

"All my life, I had watched the struggles of the people of Earth. I saw their violence and their cruelty, but I also saw their kindness and their love. When I died, I lamented that I could no longer help the people of Earth that had believed in me and worshipped me. I saw their depictions of me, and I decided to take that form. In this way, they would know me for who I was, and they would trust me. I came down to Earth in my new form and kept a close eye on the humans that I loved to watch. I created several summoning gems, so they could come and summon me from where I watched over them. I help those who can prove their worth and those who have truly good hearts." He smiled at her again. "You, my dearest child, meet both requirements. I shall help you."

The great winged creature bowed his head, and Katara was startled when her body flew forward to hug the god's neck. She heard his sound of surprise, and she stepped away from him.

For the first time, one of her companions addressed the massive god.

"Do you regret your decision? To protect these imperfect humans?"

All eyes turned towards Axel. Quetzalcoatl considered the question and smiled.

"I do not regret the decision, Emperor Kirin. I truly believe that these flawed humans are worth my protection."

Axel bowed to him. "I thank you for agreeing to help my people."

"I do regret, however, that these humans have such a bizarre idea of what I look like. I was once quite handsome, you know."

Then the great snake god laughed long and loud, his mouth open and his frightening fangs exposed.

"Just summon me when you need me, tiny Moon child."

Katara took the cool gem and held it in her hand as the cut scene ended.

--

The journey back to the village was considerably shorter as Sokka had set these monsters not to respawn.

Rei rushed towards them when they were in sight of the village. She had a relieved smile on her face.

"I knew you could do it!" She took Katara's hands and a cut scene started. "You guys must be tired. I've made places for you at the inn. Please come with me."

The patching chips urged the forward, but Katara wasn't sure what to expect. Usually staying in an inn in the earlier games meant watching her character walk into a room, darkness with a short jingling tune, and her characters exiting the room.

When she arrived, she was surprised when she approached the bed. She lay down, and after a few short 'Good nights,' her world began to be replaced by a sleepy black haze. It wasn't quite like falling asleep, but it was similar.

Then the dream started. It was the first cut scene Katara watched from the outside, but her emotions were still just as involved as the other cut scenes.

In the dream, she was watching a funeral procession, but it was more like a parade. Mansions with elaborate designs lined the streets, and everything was opulent and bright. People were elbow to elbow on the crowded streets, and banners honoring the deceased were being waved through the air. An open palanquin traveled down the street, and a small teary-eyed girl was perched on top. With a jolt, Katara realized that it was her character on that palanquin, crying softly into a handkerchief.

Her elaborate robes were all black, and her palanquin was guarded by five familiar Knights.

Suddenly a woman in the crowd began to jeer and shriek that the princess was a traitor of the Heavens. The colors of the dream started to blur and whirl as the mourning people around the princess began to riot. Katara felt the intense fear and desperation of the delicate, grieving princess.

"I have often seen her conversing with unclean, lower beings! She is going to betray us all!" came the shriek. "She's helping them plot to take over our beautiful land!"

There were more shouts and more voices. People began to snatch at the girl on the pedestal, and the Knights struggled against them. They defended the princess's honor, but their pleas were drown out by the buzz of the angry crowd.

"We have all seen her dashing about with those wretched, impure butterflies!"

"Her father's ashes just spread too."

As Katara watched, it became evident that this revolt had been carefully planned, and she could identify all those who had been strategically placed through the crowd. Fear and accusations spread through the multitude like wildfire, and the Five Knights of Heaven couldn't restrain them for long. Fear attacked Katara, and she knew she was crying. A woman rose up above the rest of the mob, but she was in shadow and blurry as though she was too much of a nightmare and would tarnish the beautiful landscape around her.

The Knights were dragged away from the helpless royal, screaming and fighting the whole way. The palanquin was lowered to the ground, and the crowd descended upon the crying princess.

Her fear overwhelmed her, and Katara screamed. Through the haze of her fake sleep she heard a concerned voice.

"Kaguya, it's just a dream." It was Axel's voice, and Katara realized she was cradled in his arms. He shook her gently. "It's a dream, dearest love. Wake up." Another shake, more forceful than the last.

She heard Jet's voice. It sounded playful but jealous. "I thought you were supposed to kiss princesses to wake them up."

When Katara opened her eyes, Axel was glaring warily at Jet. Katara wondered if the others had seen the dream. That cut scene couldn't have been for her benefit alone.

Axel realized she was awake and hugged her tightly. She felt tears on her face, and she sniffled uncertainly.

"The funeral… the wicked fraud… so many people…so much anger," she gasped between her tears.

Axel's arms tightened and one of his hands caressed her hair.

"Don't worry. It's over now. We'll set things right."

Katara's fear was abating as the golden-eyed emperor stroked her hair, and she found that she was grateful that the cut scene had given her someone to console her. The fear that she had felt was surprisingly real, but she knew that she wouldn't have been able to seek comfort with anyone after the cut scene without looking silly. As the cut scene ended, she was still cradled in his arms, and for once, she didn't immediately leap away from him. Axel began to pull away, but she gasped softly and clung to him tighter. She wasn't quite prepared to face her unnatural fears alone quite yet.

He didn't argue and allowed her to bury her face into his shoulder.

She stayed in his arms, gasping through her weakening sobs. The fear was still thrumming through her veins, and she needed his comfort.

After a few moments, her breathing finally began to slow, and her tears stopped.

"Thanks," she breathed in his ear. "The princess's emotions are just so strong. I just needed… I needed to be held a little longer."

"I understand. You're welcome," he muttered gruffly as he pulled away from her. She was still sitting on the inn's small bed, and he helped her to her feet.

Suddenly, Tennin was there, and she engulfed Katara in a hug.

"I'm so sorry that they did that to you," she exclaimed against Katara's shoulder.

Sokka scoffed. "It's just a game. It didn't _really_ happen."

Tennin glanced at Sokka but didn't release her hold on Katara. "Well, if I felt Akka's anger and sadness as she watched her princess being dragged away, I figured Katara's fear and anger and sadness must be ten times what mine was." She tightened her hug on Katara.

Katara felt a rush of affection for the unusual girl and hugged her back. Sokka just huffed impatiently at them and left the room. The others followed, and Tennin released her.

"I don't like feeling so angry and hopeless." Tennin's nose crinkled in distaste. "Very negative emotions and not at all good for your aura."

Tennin took Katara's hand, and they walked together companionably. They exited the inn and approached the gaming party that stood at the edge of the village. Katara saw a few of them raise their eyebrows at the two girls holding hands.

Katara tried to ignore them, and with her free hand, she scrubbed at her face.

"My character cries so much," she complained.

Tennin laughed. "Yeah, but she's getting stronger and braver. She really handled Quetzalcoatl."

"Yeah, I guess you're right."

"Your brother is really talented though. To feel emotions like that in a game is pretty intense."

Katara nodded. "Almost too intense for me."

Tennin's smile became mischievous. "Think about it this way: if these negative emotions are so strong, the positive ones will be too." She nodded slightly in Axel's direction and giggled. "Should be interesting, huh?"

With heat rising in her cheeks, she muttered, "Yeah, I guess."

More giggles bubbled from Tennin's lips, and she released Katara's hand to rush to Sokka's side.

Sokka had a grumpy look on his face, and after a short whispered conversation between them, Tennin laughed musically and slipped her hand into his.

Katara watched her brother's face redden happily before turning away from them.

Toph smirked at Katara and walked over to her, Aang only a few steps behind her.

"Get all the tears out of your system, Sugar Queen?"

"Why yes, Toph, I did," Katara responded sarcastically. "And now I feel tons better."

"That's good, because I don't want to see you cling to Sparky that way again," Toph responded. She gagged almost convincingly. "I mean, I know it's an inn, but we were _sharing_ a room."

Katara blushed angrily, but Aang colored more than she did.

"It was just a cut scene. It's not like she leapt into his arms or anything like that," he responded petulantly.

Toph grinned at the furious young monk. "Yeah, Twinkle Toes, but that doesn't change the fact that she enjoyed it."

Aang opened his mouth to retort, but he was interrupted.

"Isn't it about time we headed for the capital?"

Axel was standing at the village exit, his face tense and embarrassed. Katara was thankful that she had one partner working with her against all the teasing

Aang's face lit up with excitement, anger and embarrassment completely forgotten.

"To the capital!"

**--End Level 7--**

**A/N: **To the capital! (Finally!)

"We leave…as soon as Lady Yuna fixes her hair." For fans of Final Fantasy 10, that's kinda what this last scene reminds me of. lol

This chapter is a little shorter than usual, but it's one of my favorites so far. I really looked forward to writing it. Which is one of the reasons I posted two chapters this time. That, and was not working yesterday, I figured I'd write the next chapter since six was kind of a bad place to stop...

**Video game references:**

-Picture of Quetzalcoatl, anyone? He's not quite the same here but… oh well. I went with the "winged-serpent" thing because I thought it fit Avatar better. He was prettier in FF8 though. I made him able to talk too. (So I didn't completely steal him from FF8 lol)

www. ffshrine .org /ff8 / ff8 (insert underscore here)quezacotl .php Um.. but if nothing else, you can go to and go to FF8and check under Guardian Force and find it pretty easily : )

-Summon creatures in Final Fantasy are usually summoned with a gem or the creature was in the gem.


	8. Level 8: Follow Your Wings

**--Virtually a Princess--**

**+Level 8: Follow Your Wings+**

The rest of the journey to the capital was surprisingly distraction free. Other than the random encounters with monsters on the way, very few things interrupted the party's progress. They had stopped at a couple of pitiable, dilapidated villages, but they only bought supplies, saved, and continued.

The road was somewhat long, and the many fights were steadily becoming tedious. Katara was growing bored with the fighting; she had leveled up far too much for the monsters to be fun anymore. The group finally began to see the tops of large buildings through the trees, and the road began to curve around an immense stone wall. When the gate into the capital finally came into sight, she felt like rushing to it and hugging it. She buried that silly urge but was a little annoyed when the armored gate keeper called out to them in a cold electronic voice.

"Halt!" He was a muscular man, tattoos on the exposed skin of his arms and scars marring his face.

A buzz echoed in Katara's ear. "Cut scene initiating."

"So," the man said, leering at Katara. "I need to see your gate passes if you plan on getting through these gates into Edo."

Jet stepped in front of Katara, and she felt Axel's hand on her back.

'Not the damsel in distress bit again,' Katara thought dolefully. 'One water whip and I could have this macho man bowing to me just like Quetzalcoatl.'

"We lost our travel papers, sir," Aang said respectfully. "But we have family in the city."

"Well then," the man laughed. "Maybe you can make me risking my neck for you worth my while." He leaned sideways to peer around Jet at Katara.

Jet leaned with him in an effort to keep her out of view. When he spoke, his voice was thick with annoyed confidence. "We have plenty of money. Name your price."

The man seemed to pause in thought. "Seventy gold pieces and I'll let you pass."

Katara would have smiled if she'd had control of her lips. That wasn't an unfair price, just ten gold pieces from every member of the party.

Jet nodded and tossed a coin purse that he fished out of a hidden pocket in his armor. He threw it to the gate keeper with more force than was necessary, but the man caught it easily with a chuckle. He counted the gold before he opened the gate. He welcomed them to pass with a deep sarcastic bow.

Katara was surprised when the cut scene didn't end. Her character shuffled forward timidly, Jet and Axel leading her with the remaining four Knights following cautiously behind her. The gate keeper's eyes followed her with the look of a hunter pursuing its prey. She felt her body tense defensively, and her eyes looked past the frightening man.

Katara heard a loud startled gasp, and as fingers tightened on her arm, she realized the sound had come from her own lips. She heard angry cries from her party members, but the sound was drowned out by the sound of malicious electronic laughter.

Suddenly, the gate keeper's scarred face was inches from hers, and she could smell his foul breath coming through the gaps between his dirty teeth. It was only there for a moment, and she was pulled roughly against the man's chest. She felt tears in her eyes.

Something touched her neck, and she recognized the chill that accompanies cool steel when it brushes skin.

"I'll be taking this pretty thing as payment too, strangers," said a callous voice near her ear. "Now, move along, unless you want to see the little missy's neck carved up real nice."

Katara could feel all her joints locking up in fear, the same sort of all-consuming fear that she had felt from the dream about the Empress. The only movement her character seemed able to make was to cringe away from the blade at her throat.

'One elbow to the stomach and I could end this,' she thought, exasperated. She willed her body to move, but she still had no control over her limbs.

A stand-off between Katara's party and the dirty gate keeper ensued that was ended with a rush of air and a cracking of the earth beneath the man's feet. She stumbled away from him feeling almost helpless, but her eyes found Axel's almost immediately. She felt her body rush joyfully towards him and into his waiting arms. She heard a sad noise from behind her, and she twisted in Axel's arms just enough to see Jet standing in the road, looking dejected. His arms fell loosely to his side, and she realized that he had been waiting to embrace her also. Her character had been so focused on the emperor that Jet had never even come into her line of vision.

A sigh escaped her lips.

The angry electronic voice buzzed in the air around her, and Katara fixed malevolent eyes on him.

"You defy me!" he shouted. "I'll have you all thrown in prison, and I get to keep the girl anyway. GUARDS!"

Five more armored men rushed to the gate keeper's aid.

"If we don't finish this quick, the police will arrive!" Aang shouted.

A counter appeared in the air: 10:00. It hovered over the gate keeper's head.

So this was going to be a timed battle. Katara smiled gratefully as she regained control of her limbs and pulled herself into a fighting position.

"Let's get 'em, guys, and hurry, we don't have much time!" Sokka shouted. He started to say something about a formation, but Toph jabbed him in the ribs with her elbow.

"We understand what the counter means, oh fearless leader," Toph proclaimed sarcastically.

Katara made sure to repay her kidnapping friend and refused to attack the other soldiers. Someone else could take care of them for all she cared. In her mind, the gate keeper was the real bad guy.

The crew was defeated with three full minutes to spare, and a cut scene took control directly afterwards.

Shouts rang from somewhere beyond the gate, but the words were drowned out by the pounding footsteps of—presumably—a group of police coming to arrest them.

"Hurry!" Tennin's voice shouted. "Let's get inside before they get here."

"No!" Sokka's voice. "They're too close. If we go in now, we'll only get caught. We can find another way in."

"We could fight our way through. They wouldn't stand a chance." Toph's voice sounded excited at the prospect and ready for battle.

Axel and Jet both had their eyes locked on Katara, and almost simultaneously, they said, "No, we run."

The two froze and glared at each other. Axel took hold of Katara's hand, and Jet tensed in anger. Her shoulders drooped despondently, and though she was staring at Jet, she never met his eyes. Her eye were focused on his hands, and his fingernails were digging into his skin. She knew that the two were still glaring at each other, and for several short eternities, the air between them almost crackled with anger. The shouts were getting louder, but neither seemed to notice.

Toph broke the spell. She leapt between them, her arrows bouncing about madly in her quiver. She glared with ferocity, her green eyes practically glowing. She jerked Katara's hand out of Axel's and began to pull her away.

The two watched her, startled, but Tennin, Aang, and Sokka were close at the two girls' heels.

'Great,' Katara thought, 'now I'm even being dragged around by the other girls!'

She stumbled along next to Toph and stared at the outspoken girl wondrously. She watched Toph as the elf girl cast a disgusted look over her shoulder and brushed a loose strand of hair back into her bun.

"I'm just doing to do my job and protecting the princess. If you two lovebirds want to fight, go ahead. I'm sure the police will love to listen to your argument," she said, and then she was running into the woods. Katara almost fell in surprise, but her body seemed to catch up with the other girl.

She felt a rush of panic, and the name 'Kirin,' was torn from her lips. She looked back and saw Axel and Jet running just behind the other Knights. She felt a staggering wave of relief, and her breath caught in her throat.

Breathless, she dashed through the forest, her sleeves and skirt whirling around her. The branches tugged at her clothes and hair painlessly, but even despite the difficulties running through thick forest, she felt extremely light on her feet.

--

The world went black for one terrifying, dizzying moment, but the world reappeared quickly. Now, almost inexplicably, it was night, and Katara was sitting on the ground in a circular clearing beside a large but weathered brown tent. A fire burned in the center of the ring and cast strange shadows on the familiar faces sitting nearby. The faces were serious, contemplative, and they looked even more somber with the flickering light accentuating their furrowed brows and tight lips.

"We'll have to scale the wall," Aang said softly. "It's the only option. If we go back to the entrance, we risk being recognized."

"That's simple enough," Toph responded. "All we have to do is find a place where the guard isn't as heavy. Tomorrow we can scout out a place, and tomorrow night, I can just bend us a nice little stairs to climb over it."

Her expression was calm, but there was a slight arrogant tilt to her lips.

"That would probably work during the day, but it might not at night," Sokka was giving his two cents. "During the day, there would be a lot of noise from the citizens of the city to drown out any loud booms your earthbending may produce, but at night… the sound of earth shifting without reason might attract unwanted attention."

The other members of the group murmured in quiet agreement, but Toph scoffed.

"Well, we can rest now. In the morning, we can figure out how to proceed." Jet rose to his feet, careful not to look at Axel or Katara.

Katara could feel the hold of the patching chip dwindling, and for a moment she was thankful. Just as she regained control enough to smile, however, she saw movement out of the corner of her eyes and turned to watch a pink and yellow butterfly flying lazily through the darkness. The insect had a soft glow about it, and as it flew further away, she felt her feet move to follow.

Katara rushed quickly and quietly through the darkness, but she didn't seem to have any power over her limbs. It wasn't like losing control in the cut scenes. During the cut scenes, it felt like someone else was manipulating her body, but following this adorable butterfly felt more like being hypnotized. She just couldn't stop following it. She lifted her hand and spread out her fingers as if she were trying to capture the delicate creature.

Katara was panicking in her mind. This wasn't a part of the cut scene, and it wasn't the similar to anything she had felt so far. She was mesmerized by the pretty creature, but a part of her was still impervious to the siren call of the butterfly. She had played Fatal Frame 2; she knew what happened when one followed butterflies in games.

Suddenly the sinister voice of the Kyoshi warrior was ringing in her head, malicious and sweet. Cold terror sliced through her, and she wondered, 'What if this is the work of a hacker? What if that voice was the voice of the hacker, and now she's trying to get to me alone?'

Katara was still following, enthralled, but her mind was racing with possibilities.

'Well,' she thought thankfully. 'It's not like a hacker could torture me in the game anyway. I won't feel anything.'

This thought soothed her as she stole through the night like a gypsy or nymph relishing in the moonlight. She broke through the trees and was standing next to the towering wall that encased the capital city of Edo. She watched almost sadly as the butterfly flew over the barrier with ease and was very soon out of sight.

If she hadn't been watching the butterfly so closely, however, she may not have seen the black shadows that were currently climbing cautiously down the wall. Katara finally felt free of her unusual fascination for the winged creature, but she stood at the edge of the forest observing the shadows with the similar rapt interest.

A harsh angry whisper startled her. "Who are you? What are you doing out here?"

Katara gasped and spun on her heels. She almost screamed, but before the sound came, she heard a low buzz in her ears.

'Not another cut scene,' she moaned in her head.

Rough hands encircled her wrists, and dark eyes appraised her. For a moment, hostility shone in her captor's face, but it faded into confusion. Panic raced through her veins like fire, but the alarm at his sudden appearance was abating a little.

"What's wrong?" Another hushed whisper.

The man dropped her wrists. "Some young girl," he said quietly over his shoulder before looking at her again. "What were you doing alone in the woods? It can be dangerous at night."

"I—I…um… need to get into the city," she closed her eyes as she spoke. Katara felt nervousness and fear choking her vocal chords. "You could…could help me sneak in…right? That's what you're doing, right?"

The man scratched at his beard and shook his head. "No, little lady, we're getting people out of the city. The walls meant to protect us have become a prison, and we're some of the few good soldiers left. We're helping the citizens escape from the city and find places far away from that bloody emperor."

"Oh… I-I see." Katara was ringing her hands now. 'Really,' she thought, 'this is getting ridiculous.'

Another shadow materialized out of the darkness to stand next to the man.

"What did you—," the shadow said in a decidedly feminine voice. "Oh dear, how did you get here? Goodness, she looks terrified. What the devil did you do to her?"

The man shrugged helplessly. "I just found her. I didn't do anything to the poor girl."

The woman flashed him a critical expression and shook her head. Katara smiled mentally; she knew that expression. She often shot that same look at Sokka when she was exasperated with him. Katara decided that she liked this NPC very much. She would have laughed at the woman's sarcasm, but she just felt a foreign twinge of relief and happiness that was slowly replacing the fright. The relief was foreign to Katara, because quite frankly, she knew she could have taken her nice captor out if it had come to that. Obviously, cute little Kaguya was easily intimidated.

The woman arched a brow at the man. "Anyone would be frightened by your mug appearing out of the darkness. Go find the girl something to drink, please. I'm sure she'd appreciate it." The man went away looking slightly harassed and put upon. The woman merely smiled kindly at Katara. "Why are you out here so late?"

"Well, miss, I really must get into the city," she said in a confident voice.

'Wow,' Katara thought. 'My voice didn't even quaver.' She looked at the woman's kind eyes and knew why she felt more comfortable.

"Why would you want into the city? Most people just want out."

"Well, my friends and I have business to take care of in the city. We tried to get through the gate this afternoon, but…"

The woman gave a sputter of laughter. "That was you?" she said incredulously. "You've got some pluck, I'll give you that. I heard what your little group did. Really happy to hear someone put old Dog Face in his place." She appraised Katara with a grin. "I can certainly see why he tried to kidnap you though. You certainly are a pretty little doll."

When Katara responded, her voice was unexpectedly desperately angry. "I am not a doll!" An echo of the Empress and the temple cave swirled in her head.

The woman looked taken aback.

"Sorry," she heard herself murmur. "That just reminded me of someone else."

The woman nodded in quiet understanding. "Tomorrow night we can sneak you and your friends into the city. After that, you're on your own. We don't stay at the same place along the wall very long, but if you can find us when you're done with your business, we'll help you get back out."

"Hopefully," Katara muttered to herself. "After we're done, no one will have to run anymore."

"What—," the woman started to say, but the sounds of crunching footsteps stopped her. "Get down!" she whispered anxiously. She disappeared into the shadows, and Katara followed her.

Someone tripped and spat a curse into the darkness. Katara immediately recognized that voice.

"Mamoru!" she whispered excitedly to her unseen companions. "He's my friend. You can trust him."

She began to come out of her hiding place when she heard another voice and approaching footsteps. A fire flickered into existence over an open palm.

"Is she nearby?" Katara felt a bit of happiness that Axel was there, but she knew that was just her character reacting to the emperor.

"I think so," Jet replied grudgingly. "But it's a little more difficult to track someone at night."

Axel cleared his throat. "I want to apologize for today. It was selfish and impertinent of me to have an asinine stand-off at such a vital moment."

Jet acknowledged him gruffly. "I forgive you; I expect that sort of thing from _you_. I just can't belief that I put the princess in so much danger."

Axel's noble face crinkled into an expression of anger and distaste, and Jet shuffled along dejectedly through the forest examining the bent plants that Katara had previously trampled as she ran. Silence fell between them. A familiar dry aching assaulted her heart as she watched them pointedly ignoring each other.

Her body finally couldn't stand watching them any longer, and she freed herself from her shadow and dashed towards them.

"Kaguya!" Axel said and rushed to meet her halfway. The flame that had hovered above his hand went out as he ran. Jet followed close behind him.

Axel reached her first and embraced her. He pulled away quickly, though, and peered down at her sternly. "What were you thinking? I was worried sick about you."

Jet scoffed at him. "Actually, we were all worried about her, Prince Charming."

Axel ignored him completely and just gazed at her, waiting.

"Well," she replied hesitantly. "I saw a very pretty butterfly, and I just…"

'So that was a part of the game?!' Katara thought angrily. Her internal voice took on a menacing tone. '_**Sokka**_…'

Oddly enough, Jet laughed. "I should have known. That certainly is like you, silly Princess Kaguya." He chuckled again and shook his head in a relief and bemusement.

Axel appeared confused, and Jet laughed again, charmingly this time. "So she hasn't told you about that, then." Axel furrowed his brows, and Jet looked sufficiently delighted, worry completely forgotten.

"What is he talking about?"

"Well," Katara said, and she could feel a story coming. She was spared the trouble when a group of about twenty or so shadows finally revealed themselves. This was a considerably larger number than she had expected.

The kind woman to whom Katara had spoken fell to her knees at Axel's feet. "Oh great Emperor Kirin," she said reverently. It sounded as if she might be crying. "We welcome you back to your home. I must profusely apologize that we have allowed such tragedy to befall the capital in the two short years that you have been gone."

Katara was bemused; the woman's language was now extremely flowery and stiff, a contrast to her earlier, friendly speech.

Axel smiled, recognition flashing in his eyes. "Ah, Yun. It is good to see you again. Won't you follow us back to our camp?"

Yun ducked her head. "Of course, Great Emperor."

Axel smiled at Katara. "Meet the elite Royal Guard of my palace," he said, pride in his voice. "Loyal only to our land, they are the protectors of those who live therein." His smile widened. "Though they are likely no match for your Knights of Heaven, but they are the best human guards in the whole country."

He spread out his arms and gestured at the group. The cut scene was ending as they turned towards the camp.

**--End Level 8—**

This chapter was mostly cut scene. Er, the next two or three might be. I apologize. Hope you enjoyed this.

**Video Game References:**

-Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterfly is a survival horror game. A set of twins are reminiscing in the forest of their childhood when one of them follows a crimson butterfly deep into the woods. Her sister follows her, and suddenly they're in a village of eternal night. The butterflies are in some way connected to this forgotten cursed village. In the past, some sort of dark ritual involving twins went wrong, and everyone in the village was killed. The twins must battle these evil ghosts with a special camera and uncover the secrets of the village in order to escape the nightmare. Sufficiently horrifying, I think this is one of the most frightening games that I've ever played.

-Crossing the gate: The gate bit here savors strongly of Final Fantasy 9 when two of the characters have to sneak through the South Gate. Although the scene in the story is very different from what happens in FF 9, the whole concept of 'gate passes' was taken from this game.

-Not a whole lot of new references in this chapter, although perhaps I could say that timed battles in RPGs are nerve-wracking. lol Final Fantasy 7 and 8 both had several timed battles. Katara seems excited about the timed battle, but I cringed a little. I don't like them at all.


	9. Level 9: Girl's Side Story

**--Virtually a Princess--**

**+Level 9: Girl's Side Story+**

Working their way back to the campsite was a little more difficult than leaving it. Without the hypnotic butterfly spurring her on, monsters appeared out of the dark forest to attack them.

'Of course,' Katara thought ruefully. 'The most _elite _Royal Guard aren't helping at all.'

They were there, though. She could feel them moving through the shadows around them; she could see the unnatural movements of the trees that they climbed through and hear the sound of their surreptitious footsteps among the leaves. Truth be told, it was actually extremely creepy, but Katara didn't want to show that she was unnerved by it.

So, she plugged through the darkness along with Jet and Axel, who both remained silent. She couldn't remember them talking to each other outside of the cut scenes. They may have talked in Sokka's group chat room sometimes, but she was quite sure she'd never heard them speak to each other in the game so far. Admittedly, Axel was proving to Katara as being somewhat antisocial to begin with, but Jet was outgoing enough for the both of them. Sokka talked to Axel quite a bit online, and if Sokka's choice of writers was any indication, he trusted Axel immensely.

Yet, here Jet and Axel walked side by side without a single glance in each other's direction. They were fighting oversized wolfbats at the moment. As she threw water at the wolfbat in front of her, she watched them, frowning, until Axel met her eyes. As he was still focused primarily on the creature in front of him, he had the appearance of someone who was concentrating quite intently, and in his distraction, managed to gaze at her without seeming to become embarrassed. His eyes were questioning and almost irritated, and his lips tilted downward into a cute frown. Confused, curious annoyance sent his eyebrows racing upward, and Katara thought perhaps she might finally be seeing a glimpse of the boy underneath the self-conscious awkwardness.

Sure, he had shown anger before, but it was usually a product of embarrassed frustration. Perhaps, their relationship would become comfortable pretty soon even despite the romantic, starry-eyed cut scenes.

She grinned at him, and she could feel mischievous laughter in her eyes. His brows knit together and his frown deepened. She noticed that an almost imperceptible streak of red on his cheeks, but he didn't seem exceedingly embarrassed by her stare.

Actually, he seemed almost challenged by it, and he narrowed his eyes at her as if she were plotting against him.

Katara found this highly amusing and laughed out loud as she leapt at a wolfbat that materialized out of the forest and slashed at it with her dagger.

Jet sent her a perplexed smile, and she laughed harder. Neither boy seemed to understand the humor and merely shrugged, turning their attention back to the fighting.

However, she did notice that afterwards Axel kept shooting her inquisitive narrow-eyed glances.

--

When the campfire came into view, another cut scene started.

Shadowy figures paced near the fire, and Aang's voice was the first to reach Katara's ears.

"You think Mamoru will find her?" He sounded worried and tense, and his voice was as trilling and flighty as a bird's. By the sound of his voice and his small shadow pacing about the fire, he was ready to bolt into the forest himself.

"We've already searched nearby the campsite and found no signs of her," Sokka's voice was worried as well but calm and soothing. "She obviously went quite far, and Mamoru is likely the best candidate to search. If he can track a dragon through an endless ocean, he can find a girl traipsing about through the woods."

"I could go," Toph volunteered. "I had to track down that fabled sparrow in the woods of the Eastern Mountains so surely I'm as qualified as Mamoru."

"No," Tennin's voice chirped as sternly as it was able. "If he comes back with her and you don't meet them on their way back, we'll just have to track you down too."

Toph's voice was disgruntled when she said, "No one stopped Prince Charming from charging after Mamoru."

Sokka sighed. "We all agreed on this before sending Mamoru, but Kirin isn't one of the Knights. We have no say over what His Excellency does. I really don't know what Kaguya is planning in regard to that man. I've already told him that there is no way for us to get him to—"

His lips froze when Katara stepped out of the forest with Jet and Axel at her side. She hoped very dearly that he would finish that sentence. That sounded like a particularly interested train of conversation.

Her wish wasn't granted, however, as the group rushed at her with questions and relieved reprimands.

Finally, however, her character recalled Sokka's earlier unfinished sentence.

"Sai," she heard her voice say quietly. "Just now, about Kirin, what were you saying?"

A pained, frantic expression twisted his countenance, and he began to struggle for words. "You mean, you don't… that is… well…"

'Ah, they're keeping information from me,' Katara thought. 'Should be fun to catweasel this out of them.'

Confusion and anxiety knotted her stomach, but Axel's voice cut into Sokka's sputtering.

"We've found our way into the city," he declared to the group in fake exuberance. At his announcement, the shadow warriors dropped almost silently from the treetops and into the grass.

Axel began to make introductions, but Kaguya's questions were not leaving Katara's mind alone. Katara's heart was assaulted with Kaguya's confusion and apprehension. Her body felt numb as her feet dragged her to the back of the campsite, and she sat down on a log as the rest of the group chatted excitedly about tomorrow's plan.

Axel's eyes watched her for several long moments before he joined her. He smiled, but it didn't touch his eyes.

"What are you keeping from me?" Tears pricked at her eyes, and shame flooded through Katara. Why did Kaguya respond to everything with tears?

Axel embraced her comfortingly. "Don't worry, my beloved. The problem isn't unsolvable, and I'll handle it. I have no wish to cause you unnecessary worry, dearest."

She began to protest, but he interrupted her.

"Now, about your infatuation with these butterflies. Mamoru seemed to think that I had missed quite an important story."

A sad smile tilted her lips upwards. "Butterflies were my mother's favorite. She said that they were perfect because the symmetric nature of their wings. She said that these wings represent two halves of the same whole. Perfect in balance and harmonious in nature. My mother passed 

away when I was very young, and I've always felt that butterflies are my sole connection with her. I've always loved them as much as she loved them." The sting of old pain and hopeless longing assaulted Katara's heart. These feelings were familiar to her since she herself had lost her mother at a young age. For Katara, that had meant becoming more independent and strong for herself and for her family, but for a princess? Wouldn't she have been pampered and protected to prevent more heartache?

For the first time since the game began, Katara felt her first stab of real sympathy for the young princess. She was weak and prone to tears, but she would become stronger. Her encounters with Quetzalcoatl and the Empress proved she could, on occasion, take control of her own life.

Axel smiled sadly with her. "I, too, lost my mother at a very young age, but she was treacherous. Supposedly, she committed treason, and she was executed for it. At least you have good, even if they may be vague, memories of your mother. That is soothing, right?"

She nodded at him and nestled closer to him, smiling softly as another fake sleep closed her eyes.

--

The world went black for a moment, and when she adjusted to the change, the sun was in the sky again. She was standing in the clearing that had previously been a campsite, but the group had already cleared away any signs of their presence.

"We have an encampment further in the forest. You can come there and buy any supplies you might need," Yun said as her comrades melted away into the trees.

Yun stayed with their party and, surprisingly, helped them battle through the monsters in the forest. She was amazingly strong, and she destroyed the monsters with extraordinary deftness.

Katara pursed her lips. She knew Yun would just end up being like the Beatrix character from Final Fantasy 9: awe-inspiringly powerful but the player only gets to utilize her strength for an astounding ten minutes of the game.

When they reached the encampment, it resembled a warring army camp, with flags emblazoned with a red and black symbol—Emperor Kirin's symbol?— and short, wide tents.

Yun smiled at them. "When you are finished here, we're setting up a camp closer to the wall for you." She pointed to a thin trail leading into the trees. Her smile was kind when she looked at Katara. "Don't worry, dearie. We'll get you into the city." She bowed low before Axel, and she strode purposefully into the encampment.

Sokka was close behind her. "Shopping!"

Tennin giggled and skipped along next to him.

Katara rolled her eyes but followed them to the first tent.

--

Of course, Sokka approached the weapon's counter first. Katara sighed and began to purchase items. As she was accepting a few multi-colored glass orbs, Tennin was suddenly at her elbow and peering at her with large eyes.

"Um, hi," Katara said as Tennin smiled up at her.

Tennin put a single finger against her lips and began to whisper quietly in her ear. "I'm going to borrow your man later, okay?" She muffled her giggle with her hand. "I'm gonna make Sokka jealous."

Before Katara could respond, Tennin had danced back to Sokka's side. She gaped at the mage as she beamed up at the blushing blue-eyed boy.

She hoped very dearly that it was a joke.

--

After the group had broken up to explore and after Katara had been through the village, she heard Sokka shout that it was time to leave.

When she exited the tent, she saw Toph and Aang dashing at full speed down the trail. Katara was sure she would hear who won that race when she caught up to them.

She then saw Tennin bound over to Jet and wrap herself around his arm. Though Jet was surprised for a moment, he recovered quickly and smiled winningly down at her. His normal charm lit up his face, and his lips moved with that cocky manner that was so recognizable.

Oh, how Katara wished she could read lips. The jealousy that writhed in her stomach was almost painful, but Tennin had planned it so Jet may possibly know what she had planned.

'Maybe,' Katara thought as she watched the two of them walking away, 'but probably not.'

Glancing at Sokka, she almost flinched. He was glowering angrily, his lips tugged into a frown. She almost laughed at how close that frown was to being a pout.

Sokka stood at the edge of the trail with a frown on his lips and refused to follow. Axel was hovering just over his shoulder and appeared to be trying to comfort her brother. His lips were moving rapidly, and she still couldn't help but wish she knew what was being said. Sokka met her eyes for a moment over, and something interesting passed over his face. It lasted only a moment, but he muttered rapidly at Axel. She saw Axel nod and respond. At this Sokka's arms began to flail madly about in the air. He looked extremely angry now.

Axel was shoved away when he tried to pat the Water Tribe boy on the shoulder. When she was finally close enough to hear them, Axel's low snarl of surprised anger reached her ears. She froze on the path and listened to the two of them talking.

"Sokka...," he said between clenched teeth. "She's a _**girl**_. Who really knows what goes on in girls' heads? Maybe she's trying to get a rise out of you."

Sokka's face was harassed when he looked up at Axel. "What reason could she have to do that? That doesn't make sense!" His blue eyes scrunched up in hopeless frustration, and his voice rose into a warbling shout.

"_**She's a girl!! She doesn't have to have a reason!**_" Axel cried, his voice becoming as frustrated as Sokka's. "_**Girls are crazy!**_"

Sokka considered this and nodded. "Maybe you're right." He rubbed his chin emphatically, and he smiled. His pout reappeared quickly, however. Katara saw Axel's shoulders sag, and a sigh escaped his lips. She saw him reach out to pat Sokka on the shoulder, but Sokka retreated from the hand, his pout deepening.

Axel growled in frustration, and Katara decided to cut this meeting short.

She strode forward and tapped Axel on the back. "Just leave him alone for a bit. When he's in this mood, nothing will help but time."

With a startled sound, Axel whirled around and examined her with wide eyes.

He licked his lips and laughed. It was a nervous sound. "How much did you hear?"

Katara smiled at him playfully. "Not much." He seemed to relax a little bit. "Let's just keep going, okay? Sokka will catch up when he realizes he's being silly."

As she passed, she nudged Axel forward and ignored the fact that Sokka stuck his tongue out at her.

Axel followed behind her, although he did turn once to stare at Sokka's slumped sad form. He walked slowly beside her, obviously uncomfortable with leaving her brother sulking. If he'd been paying more attention, he would have realized that Sokka was already edging towards them. Katara knew that he wouldn't stand there alone for very long.

Katara sighed when the tension didn't leave Axel's face. "He'll be fine, you know. She's just trying to make him jealous."

Axel's eyebrows shot up in consternation. "That just doesn't make sense," he muttered under his breath, and he didn't look at her. He was staring relentlessly at the ground, eyebrows creased in annoyance and his cheeks slightly pink.

"She wants to see how he reacts." She pursed her lips. "Mostly girls do it so they can be sure that a guy is properly interested in her and to force his hand."

Confusion was written plainly across his face, and she sighed.

"She wants to see if he'll fight for her," Katara said. "Or something."

His eyebrows rose, and the pink in his cheeks darkened into a deep red. "So is that the sort of thing you do?"

Katara's face heated up. "No! I think it usually makes things worse, but girls do it to get attention."

Finally, Axel seemed to understand. "Oh, Tennin always wants attention so that makes sense."

Katara rolled her eyes. Sometimes guys were hopeless.

"So, Mighty Emperor," she said. "You wrote the story, right?" She smiled up at Axel's suspicious face.

"Yeah…," he agreed slowly. "Why…?"

"Well, actually, I was wondering what Emperor Kirin is keeping from Kaguya. I knew you could tell me." She smiled in a pleading way. "I'm very curious, and I don't think I can rest till I know."

"Um… alright… well, Kirin—"

"_**SPOILERS!!" **_

Katara and Axel jumped and whirled around to find Sokka approaching them menacingly. He marched up to Axel and poked his index finger at the taller boy's chest.

He glared at Axel. "No spoilers!!" One of his eyes narrowed as the other widened. Katara thought that he looked sort of deranged. "The story is between me and you. Everyone else has to find out as we go. Got it?"

Axel chuckled. "Got it. No spoilers." The two of the grinned at each other for a moment, and Sokka punched Axel's arm. Axel immediately punched him back before Sokka continued down the road as if he didn't have a care in the world.

Katara decided that this must be some strange male way of saying 'Thanks for worrying about me,' and 'Hey, no problem, man.' She shook her head and decided just coming out and saying it was easier.

Sokka stopped to grin at Katara as he went happily down the road, and she realized that he had followed behind in order to spy on her. She mentally berated herself for falling for his little ploy and frowned at Axel when he turned to peer at her.

"Sorry, no spoilers," he said simply and his lips jerked up into an apologetic smile. She could tell that he was happy that Sokka wasn't pouting anymore.

Katara glared at him. "You two planned that, didn't you?"

Axel just shrugged and averted his eyes, pink on his cheeks.

"One of those guys must to stick together sort of things, right?"

He shook his head and started to speak. "I just wanted—"

"Well, I guess that's fair." She shot him the fiercest scowl that she could muster, but she could still feel the corners of her lips pulling upwards into playful smile. Her voice deepened into a mockery of Axel's rough voice. "I mean, girls are crazy, right?"

She watched him long enough to see his pale skin blanch whiter—if that were even possible—and turned on her heel to do her best impression of a stomping angry girl while laughing softly behind her hand.

**--End Level 9--**

This chapter is surprisingly devoid of cut scene. I didn't realize quite how long the Tennin/Sokka angst (or humor lol) was going to last. But once they actually (or FINALLY) get into the city, the cut scene rate will increase a little. And the Katara finally chewing Sokka out for leaving so much stuff out will happen soon. (I think, depending on the rate things go) And Zuko's finally becoming more comfortable with Katara which is nice (and by more comfortable, I mean he didn't blush and dither quite so much this chapter. lol)

Are there plain old weasels in the Avatar world? I just couldn't put a plain animal in there after how they reacted to a plain bear, so voila! Catweasels were born.

**Video Game References:**

-The chapter title 'Girl's Side Story' is actually the title of a Tokimeki Memorial game. I just felt with the Princess revealing a little more of her back story and Tennin's little 'jealousy' stunt, it was a fitting title and fittingly video game related. : )

-Beatrix is probably one of the most powerful characters in the whole of Final Fantasy 9. She starts out on the wrong side, and the player has to defeat her (She's one of the hardest bosses to beat and you have to encounter her several times before you're good enough to even wound her.) She only lends you her power for a short time before she leaves again to do her own thing, but the rest of the game, I always wish that there was a way to put her back in my party. –pout pout-


	10. Level 10: The Trust and Tears of Angels

**--Virtually a Princess--**

**+Level 10: The Trust and Tears of Angels+**

When Sokka reached the end of the road, he marched straight up to Tennin and Jet. He gave Jet a humorous angry look and pulled Tennin away by her hand. Tennin didn't seem to mind in the least and was smiling encouragingly at Sokka. She gave Jet one last smile and a wave. With this, she appeared perfectly content with being led away by the hand.

A boisterous laugh erupted from Jet's lips as he watched Sokka stomp away, girl in tow. He glanced at Katara, his eyes alight with mischief.

"I told her that he'd have the guts to do it." He found this whole situation hilarious apparently. He moved closer to Katara and smiled widely at her. "Besides, I wanted to see if you got jealous, too. So, did you?" He lifted an eyebrow questioningly, an attractive gesture.

Widening her eyes innocently, she smiled confusedly at him. "Why would I be jealous? I don't like Tennin, Sokka does."

Jet laughed and seemed happy with this response.

Toph came over and grinned. "I was going to tell you that I beat Twinkle Toes's butt in that race, but all this jealousy and angst is probably more interesting, huh?"

Jet smiled at Toph and congratulated her on her win, and the elf girl took that as permission to continue with the details of the story.

Katara turned to see Axel moving slowly down the trail, his face still mostly pale with one streak of red across his cheeks. As he was looking decidedly mortified, she grinned at him and met him at the end of the path.

He was almost immediately talking. "About that… before… I didn't mean that… I wasn't talking about you. I mean… maybe not all girls are crazy." His speech was sputtered and embarrassed, and she laughed.

"No," she responded. "I'm pretty sure most girls are crazy. Just ask my brother; I have my crazy moments too."

His eyes widened for a moment as though the very idea frightened him before he laughed. Scratching the back of his head and blushing, he said, "I didn't need anyone else to be mad at me. So… yeah."

"Anyone else?" she asked, but he was already walking towards the small camp.

--

Once all seven of them had entered the camp, a short blackness engulfed them and spit them out into the night. Almost immediately, a cut scene started. They group was lead to the wall, and Katara watched as Jet and Axel climbed up the wall first, followed by Sokka and Aang. Tennin and Toph went next, scaling the wall with ease and considerable grace.

Then it was her turn.

"Here," Yun said, handing her the end of a rope. "Tie this to your waist. They'll hoist you up."

"No," Katara said quietly. She could hear a fierce determination in her voice. "I can pull my own weight."

All eyes were on her when she took the ropes in tiny, soft hands and began to pull herself up. At first, the going was awkward, and her feet slipped on the stones. Her breath came in straining puffs, and sweat began to pour down her face and hands. Katara mentally cheered Kaguya on as she made her slow progress. When she'd climbed a third of the way up the wall, her dress snagged on the wall, and her foot slipped. A chorus of tiny gasps came from above and below, but she caught herself and continued to climb.

'Just a little more,' Katara chanted in her head. 'That's a girl; just a little further.'

Then she was on the top of the wall and sighing in relief. Kaguya smiled with Katara's lips into the darkness where she had last seen Yun. Wiping the sweat from her face, she accepted the rope offered to her and climbed down the other side. This was considerably easier as gravity was working with her this time. She touched the ground first, and Axel landed next to her, a proud smile on his face.

They waited, silent, as the others stepped softly onto the dirt road. When they were all safely on the ground, the ropes slithered away into the darkness.

So, no turning back now.

Axel smiled at them. In a muffled whisper, he said, "We'll follow this road. They said that all the peasants from this area that are going to leave have already done so. For this reason, we shouldn't be seen by many people. Yun told me how to get to the safe house, so just follow me, okay?" He squeezed Katara's hand confidently and set off through the dark city.

Katara heard Axel sigh sadly as they walked through empty streets and dilapidated houses.

The group glanced at him, worried.

He shook his head quickly. "This is just so different from my memories of this place. A lot can change in two years." For a brief moment, a flicker of a memory replaced the dark destroyed homes with simple yet strong buildings; peasants were hard at work but still laughing and happy. This shared memory was, Katara was certain, shown only for the players' benefit.

She found out that she was right when her character didn't seem to notice the change. She said in a sad, small voice, "I wish I could have seen it back then."

"Don't worry. I'll see to it that it gets restored." Fierce anger lit his eyes, and Katara felt Kaguya's sadness. Despite Kaguya's overwhelming sadness for the emperor's plight, however, Katara had a jab of fear run through her that belonged completely to her. She dearly hoped she would never see Axel's true rage directed at her.

Sure, she could handle anybody who crossed her, but that didn't necessarily mean she be unscathed. She had seen his firebending skills in action when they battled, but if he were angry? She shuddered to think of it.

Then she wondered how she must look to the other students in her waterbending class when she showed up for training angry. She winced and decided that she should try not to go to class mad anymore.

Pulling herself out of her thoughts and concentrating on the steady movements of her feet, she peered through the eyes that she couldn't control and admired the graphics. The buildings were dilapidated and ugly, but they looked completely real. She wondered how Sokka had done it all so well. This team that he had picked to help must be more knowledgeable and skilled than they let on.

When Axel finally tore away from the center of the street, she felt her feet slow to a stop. She watched the mighty Emperor knock at a peeling door at a ramshackle building. It was larger than the others but in the same state of disrepair.

An older woman holding a candle opened the door hesitantly, and Katara watched as the 'Mighty Emperor' bowed. He muttered a few inaudible words to her, and the woman's eyes widened. Then she bowed in return and ushered them into the building. The hallways were dark, lit only by the old woman's candle. From what the flickering light revealed, the building was dirty with very little furniture and other accoutrements that weren't absolutely necessary. She lead them to the room at the end of the hall, and after pulling away a stone in the floor, she pulled a lever that sent the wall flying open to reveal a dark passage.

If possible, the darkness here was even deeper, and the woman beckoned them into the passage with a sweep of her hand. Axel lit a flame over his left hand and took Katara's hand with the other. A wave of relief swept through her, because Kaguya's fear was mounting at the prospect of entering the darkness. Walking with him into the darkness felt unusually comfortable and safe, and even Katara felt a little genuine gladness that she had a hand to hold. She realized quite quickly that they were traveling down, possibly into an underground cave system. The flame sent the shadows scurrying away as they advanced, but Katara's eyes weren't focused on this for very long. Kaguya was true to role of caring lover, and Katara soon found her attention wholly on Axel.

Deep trust flowed through her, and she was startled by it. Katara wasn't by nature a distrustful person, but this complete and utter trust in another human was almost staggering. Of course, she trusted her family with her very soul, but this trust was different than that.

Katara had always knew that there were different kinds of love—the love of a father, the love of a sister or brother, the love of a friend, the love of that first crush, the ever-fabled true love, and so on—but she never realized that there were different kinds of trust. She had never felt this deep a trust.

She knew that this Emperor Kirin could lead Kaguya to the Empress like a sheep to slaughter, and Kaguya would probably believe in him even after the Empress had wrung the very life from her body.

It was frightening and intoxicating at the same time. She wondered if she would find a person that she could trust so explicitly and so completely.

Finally, Axel turned to smile at her happily. "See," he muttered as he leaned closer to her. "You can always find friends. I'll make for certain that you'll be safe here. We can trust these people."

Katara nodded at him, and she knew that her character would have followed him even if he had told her that they would be forced to fight a lynch mob when they reached the bottom of this downward-slanting passage.

After a few more minutes they started seeing light at the end of the tunnel. Katara could feel both her and Axel's anticipation as they sped up in the hopes of being in the light sooner.

When they finally stepped out of the tunnel and onto the flat floor of this new room, Katara was rather surprised. Lanterns hung around a large round room, illuminating the opulent furniture and beautiful carpet spread over the stone floor. The chairs and couches were made of velvet and carved oak, and lavish silk pillows were scattered generously over the carpet and seats. Paintings decorated the walls, and colorful toys littered the floor. Along the wall there were several opulent doors leading out of the central chamber.

Tennin and Aang collided with them from behind.

"Your Highness—"

"Your Majesty—"

They both started to speak, and they both lost their voices at the same moment. They gazed around at the sumptuous room, surprised.

"Huh," Aang said with a laugh. "Didn't expect to find a place like this down here."

Axel guided Katara to one of the couches, and she sat down gratefully. As the others filed into the room, she watched the astonishment flit across their faces as they took in the extravagant decorations. They all took a seat at one of the couches and appeared decidedly uncomfortable.

After all the Knights had taken a seat, the small woman smiled regretfully at them. In a soft, kind human voice, she said, "We do not have as much as I'd like, but Yun and the Guards do make sure we are well-taken care of. I shall go prepare you all something to eat and a little tea, perhaps?"

Saying this, she disappeared into one of the doors.

Almost immediately, another door opened. An older man stepped quietly out and gently closed the door behind him. The man was somewhat chubby, but he had a kind, open face. He wore red and black clothing, and his hair was pulled into a gray top knot. When he finally noticed them, he jumped and looked about in a startled manner. His eyes singled Axel out first.

"Uncle!" Axel cried joyously, leaping to his feet.

The old man took a few hasty steps towards the emperor, wide smile in place. His smile faded quickly, though, and he shot an uncertain look at the door he'd just closed.

A wounded expression crossed Axel's face. "Uncle Roxhi? What's wrong?"

Roxhi smiled uncertainly and spoke in a calming human voice. "My nephew, I'm delighted to see you, but your nephew might not feel the same."

Before Axel had time to ask, the door behind Roxhi swung open, and a small boy with pale skin and dark brown hair pulled back into a ponytail took few steps into the room.

He was rubbing his eyes and yawning. "Uncle," the boy said in a disgruntled voice. "I told you to wake me up before the end of the story. Now, I don't know what happened to the princess and—" The sleepy boy finally became aware of the others in the room. His eyes widened in fear before landing on Axel. The boy's face scrunched up in rage.

"Xokzu!" Axel cried happily and approached the boy.

For a moment, Katara's attention was ripped away from the situation, and a thought—probably a silly thought but nonetheless—raced through her head. 'Axel' was using the name of a Nobody from Kingdom Hearts 2, and before her stood two people, both with the names that include an 'X.'

Although this shouldn't be odd, she had always thought of Axel in terms of Kingdom Hearts 2, and in that game, most of the Nobodies had names that were just rearranged versions of their previous names only with an added 'X.' For example, Sora's Nobody took the name of Roxas.

She wondered if these two were based on people Axel knew in real life. She began to remove the Xs from their names and rearrange the other letters in a vain attempt at guessing their real names, but her attention was drawn back to the conversation in front of her.

"I hate you!" The young boy's face crinkled in disgust, and he retreated back into the other room. "Get away from me!" Tears sprang into his eyes. "I hate you! You're not my uncle anymore."

The regal, calm emperor fell back a few paces and gazed at the child, his face dumbstruck and distressed.

The little boy wiped his hand across his eyes and glared as furiously as a boy on the verge of tears can. "You abandoned us all, you traitor! All of us! You were supposed to protect us!"

He pulled the door closed with resounding _'thunk!'_ as if in anger, but Katara could hear the sound of soft crying somewhere in the room beyond.

Roxhi shook his head mournfully but strode across the room to hug the upset emperor. The old man motioned for Axel to return to his seat before finding a seat himself.

"I'm quite afraid that the boy has always blamed you for this mess. He was only eight years old when you disappeared, and I haven't been able to convince him that it wasn't your fault."

"IT WAS HIS FAULT!" came a tearful shout from the other room.

Axel's face was twisted into a tortured expression, and Katara felt her fingers find his. "Maybe if you tell him what happened, he'll understand."

He nodded, but the door was thrown open violently. The boy marched across the room to stand thunderously in front of his uncle.

"You don't have to explain! I already understand. Don't treat me like a child! You ran off with some floozy! I heard the rumors!" Xokzu turned his fierce, swollen eyes on Katara. "You're her, right? He chose you over us! He truly is a traitor. He left us without a care in the world, and look at where we are now! Hiding like rats in caves!"

"Get out of the girl's face," Roxhi said, but he too was gazing at Katara with a strange expression.

Surprisingly, Katara heard her voice laugh. "Why, you're just a spoiled little prince throwing a tantrum."

The boy's eyes widened in shock before indignation lit up his eyes. "What would you know about royalty, peasant?"

Katara just smiled pleasantly at the boy's accusing eyes and said, "I was child once, and I threw my fair share of tantrums."

Katara's character wasn't offended in the slightest, but Axel's angry voice cut through the conversation.

"She is the only Princess of Heaven and sole heiress to the throne that rules over the Gods and Goddesses of the Upper Realms. You may speak to me how you wish, but you will show her respect."

Wonder danced across the boy's face. "The Kingdoms of Heaven?! Uncle Roxhi tells me stories about the Heavens!" Excitement was thick in the child's voice, but he seemed to realize that he was making friends with the enemy. So he added, "They aren't my favorite stories though."

Katara felt delight well up in her heart. Apparently, Kaguya liked kids.

"Oh dear, that's too bad," Katara heard herself say, disappointment on her lips. "I was going to tell you all about how your Uncle Kirin managed to escape from the evil Goddess that captured him." She saw the boy's eyes light up with curiosity and enthusiasm. He was desperately trying to hide it, but his eyes still betrayed him.

He turned large eyes on his uncle. "You were really kidnapped by a Goddess! Didya have to fight her?"

Axel smiled. "No, but I will soon. First, we have to take that evil emperor off of your throne."

The boy crinkled his eyes at his uncle. "Yes, you must do that first. Don't forget about that Goddess though. You can't let her get away with messing with the royal family."

Axel nodded.

"Oh dear," Katara exclaimed. "It's far too late for you to be awake. Back to bed with you." She stood and took the boy's hand in hers. "If you promise to go to sleep I'll tell you the story. Deal?"

"Deal!" The boy turned back to Axel though and rushed to him. Without a word, he gave the surprised emperor a swift hug.

Kaguya smiled, and Katara knew that the boy had never really hated the emperor. The boy was hurt and angry, but he had missed his uncle.

The boy bounded back to her side and took her hand again. "Now about that story…" He led her into the other room. This room was quite as lavish as the first but with a large four poster bed and more toys scattered about. Some were well loved and cracked while some stood broken on the shelves and waiting for repair.

Katara turned to shut the door and heard Aang laugh.

"Her Highness always did adore children."

With a smile on her lips, she watched the child climb into bed. He patted a chair next to him and moved a large book of stories from the seat.

She sat down and began to talk.

"When the Goddess kidnapped us, we were both sitting in the garden at my Earthly father's house. Her voice boomed around us, and the trees shook with the force of it. Her voice told us that our love was sickening to the Gods and that she would put an end to it. She sent a wind that swept us up and carried us to Mount Fuji. When we arrived, the wind sent us deep into the caves and locked us each in an emerald prison. She kept us very far from each other to make sure we would be especially miserable in our captivity."

"Wait, why did the Goddess kidnap you? Why didn't she like your love? What kind of emerald prison?"

So, Katara found herself explaining her fall from Heaven and the Empress and the mountains. She talked and talked, trying to fill in all the holes, but the boy always had another question or request.

"You met the Returners! What were they like really?" "You fought a God? What did you do?" "You saw Yun! How was she?" "You don't describe battles very well, do you?"

He kept laughing and questioning for a long time. Finally his questions ran dry, and his tiredness began to overcome him.

"Wait, so she took over your Kingdom too? I bet your people think you're a failure," the boy's eyes closed. "They think I'm a failure too. At least you have a good reason. It's hard when your parents die. I know how that feels; I'm an orphan myself."

Katara felt a tear on her cheek, but she knew that she would've cried for this boy even if she had had full control over her body. She ran her hand over the child's hair and forehead.

"I was never afraid though, because I had Uncle Kirin. I always knew he'd come back to help me. Always. I never gave up." Xokzu was just rambling sleepily now. "He'll make things right, don't you think?"

"Yes, that is what I think."

The boy smiled and finally fell fully asleep.

Katara stood, a happy smile on her face and moved soundlessly across the room. She cast one last soft glance before opening the door into the room where she knew plans were being made to defeat the false emperor and restore that sweet child to his rightful home.

**--End Level 10--**

So yeah! What do you guys think? It's strange that we're ten chapters in and Sokka hasn't even disappeared yet. That was one of the things that I mentioned in the description of the story because I thought I thought that it would happen pretty early. Makes me wonder how long this will end up being.

**Video Game References: **

-I thought that the note about Kingdom Hearts 2 and the Nobodies was so important that it needed to be in the text for non-gamers to understand. But now that you know the principle of the naming, I bet you all know where Zuko got the names "Roxhi" and "Xokzu" from. lol : )


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